


Shadows Wake

by Kayasurin



Series: Though Heaven May Fall [2]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: And also has a camera, Anti-hero Jack, Dark!Jack, F/M, Jack is not considered a neutral party, Jack kept his memories, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Other characters added as they appear, Other relationships as they appear, Pitch has a plan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-09 17:51:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayasurin/pseuds/Kayasurin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pitch has decided it's time to stop hiding in the shadows and return the world to the way it should be- the dark ages. The Guardians stand against him, of course, but Pitch really should have considered who <i>else</i> hates him before taking them on.</p><p>Besides, Jack's been looking forward to this for <i>years</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"No, Baby Tooth." Jack trapped the little fairy in a cage of flesh and bone and kitten-sharp claws. "You can't take the tooth until _after_ he's put it under his pillow." He produced a chocolate coin with a magician's flourish. "Sugar-free. And," a second flourish, "floss for after."

Baby Tooth squealed and fluttered in a circle around his head. Bestest trade _ever_.

"I thought you'd like it." He slipped the coin and packet of floss back into one of his many pouches, and hopped off the statue. "We'll be back tonight."

Did Jack have plans for the afternoon?

Jack did have plans. "What care you for the library?" he asked. "I need to look into a very annoying Norse god."

Baby Tooth settled on the crook of her staff, and rode that way for several blocks. Jack walked through several people on the way, hardly noticing the pain in his chest. You shouldn't do that, she told him. It damages your core.

"My core," Jack said. "Whatever that be, it has shattered ere long ago. A little damage might well do it good."

Doubtful. Baby Tooth fluffed up her feathers. But she would help him in the library. And she knew a _lot_. More than any stupid old books.

Jack chuckled, and turned down to the library in question. Burgess didn't have much, in the way of research. For that, he tended to go to places like the Museum of Natural History, universities in both North America and Europe, or attempted the unreliable internet. _That_ , he had to wait until library closing times to do, and the technology was new enough that he'd managed to break five computers before he'd learnt how to turn them on. Typing was still an exercise in frustration.

He wondered how the librarians had explained the wrecked keyboards to themselves.

What god are you researching? Baby Tooth asked.

"I'm not quite sure. Baldr, I think his name is. Whoever dies by mistletoe." Jokul's stories were two hundred years gone, now, and the last thing he needed was for Ragnarok to start up because he'd misremembered something. It would be annoying. Super-volcanoes were a pain to put down.

You had to petition gods, for one thing.

Jack curled his lip, and walked just a little faster. Burgess' library would at least give him a place to start, and he'd be nearby to help Baby Tooth with her work at night.

Wait. Baby Tooth flew up off his staff, and hovered in front of him. Something's wrong. Back home. With my sisters.

Jack's nostrils flared. "You want to check up on them?"

I have to. She clasped her hands under her chin. I'm sorry, Jack. I have to go.

"Be very careful, my little warrior. If you need aid, find me and I will give it all to you."

Baby Tooth nodded, and then took off towards the East. She was gone in seconds. The little creatures could move nearly as fast as the Wind when they wanted to. Apparently, she wanted to.

There was little he could do unless and until she asked for help. He didn't even know where she and the other fairies lived. It... Grated. His claws itched, and he considered calling the Wind and going after her. But she hadn't asked for his help, he thought. There was already enough to do, without adding more to his list.

He should his head, and continued towards the library.

It was all the Mayans' fault, really. The culture was gone, but a few of the spirits remained. Tourists. Buying all the little trinkets, all of which, one way or another, related to belief in the spirit-gods. Add in every movie, every documentary, every alternative religion- didn't matter if anyone got the information wrong, so long as the name was right- and every guided tour throughout areas of ritual worship... Well, those spirits hadn't gotten to be gods by being weak. They hung on, by their _fingernails_ (those that had fingers), and every little bit counted. They could still affect the world, though subtly.

They had been strutting around for the past few years, gloating over how they had predicted the world's end in twenty-twelve. All the other old gods had immediately gotten in on the act, except for Mother Nature. _She_ was sensible, and thankfully powerful enough to put the smack down on anyone who exceeded the bounds of her tolerance. Unfortunately, she wasn't all there; existing everywhere in the world simultaneously did that to you.

It took spirits like Jack to draw her attention to catastrophes in the making. Mostly the tricksters of the world, those considered too weak to bother with, clever enough to figure out what was going on, and used to being hated by everyone.

Jack kept an eye on the northern spirits, his nature suiting such things perfectly. He also helped out with research, now and again, when asked nicely. So far, despite tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes and oil spills, the world was still ticking along.

That might change, though, if Baldr was killed with mistletoe and set off the Norse Ragnarok.

The last thing the world needed right now was a giant wolf running around eating everything.

Jack walked through the library's automatic doors, and smirked when someone expressed surprise. He had no idea how technology sensed him; he even showed up on camera, though the people watching the little screen couldn't figure out what was there.

Setting off motion alarms was _fun_.

Not always _nice_ , but very much fun.

The library had been decorated for Easter, with cartoony bunnies and clumsy paper 'eggs' stuck up to the walls. Books on Easter- children's story books, for ages three to five, mostly- were set out where everyone walking through could see them.

He traced the tip of a claw over one yellow paper ear, and sighed. Easter. Easter Bunny. He had done a very bad thing to the lagomorph.

He didn't even know _why_. What was it about the bipedal rabbit that made him want to bury his fingers in that soft fur, lick at that jaw line, touch and taste until the Easter Bunny made needy little sounds and touched _back_? It certainly wasn't the animal attributes. He had _met_ the Groundhog, after all. Several of the kitsune he'd encountered had been charming, true, but whatever guise they had worn, they hadn't been _alluring_.

No, it was only the rabbit that made him want to do... well, everything he normally _didn't_ want to do.

"And this would be why you're on the Naughty List," Jack told himself, and turned towards the history and mythology section.

Still, it nagged at him. The things he'd done to rapists and the occasional pushy boyfriend... There was a _line_. He'd warded that line, for others, as best he could. And then he'd danced all over it before setting it on fire. The only _good_ thing about what he'd done was that he'd only used his hands. He'd thought about... doing otherwise... but however excited he'd gotten, _that_ part of his body hadn't so much as twitched.

He was happy about that. Really, he was. Considering how utterly out of control he'd been...

Jack hissed, and thumped his forehead with the heel of one hand. Enough. Enough thinking of it, enough dwelling on the situation, it had been nearly fifty years. If the Easter Bunny ever saw him again... Jack would _let_ the rabbit tear his throat out. It would only be fair. Right. Proper.

No less than he deserved.

Even if, impossible as it was, the Easter Bunny forgave him his transgressions, it didn't change the fact that Jack was... Well, he could look in a mirror as well as anyone. Avoided doing so every chance he could, true, but. He knew what he was. He knew what happened to the people around him. It was one reason he tried to discourage Baby Tooth from spending all her time with him. The less she was exposed to his influence, the safer she would be.

"Enough!" he snapped. "Baldr. Mistletoe. War of the gods. _Focus_ , Jack!"

He snarled at himself, and then started to go through books. He settled, as he always did, into the routine of searching for information.

And he absolutely didn't think of gray fur and green eyes.

* * *

Jack! Jack! Jaaaaack!

The winter spirit turned around, and caught the blue-green fairy in one hand. Rather like catching a snowball. "Yes, Baby Tooth?"

The fairy clung to his thumb. Her lower lip wobbled. Pitch Black hurt my sisters! He took them and I don't know what's happened!

"I'm sorry," Jack said, very quiet. "Who did what now?"

Baby Tooth shivered, her little wings folding down against her back. Jack bit his lip; he hadn't meant to frighten her. "Baby Tooth?"

Its okay, she assured him. You're scarier than Pitch- oh! Oh, you could rescue my sisters! I know where they are, I can lead you, we can go now and then Mother and the others won't keep making a mess of everything! They forgot the coins, can you imagine? Baby Tooth huffed, and rolled her eyes.

"Easy, little lady. Why don't you tell me what's happened?"

Well... It's like this. Baby Tooth flew up and moved over to perch on his staff. Pitch Black stole the Sandman's dream sand!

Jack gestured at the golden trails of sand weaving across the night sky. "Not all of it, clearly."

No, but enough. The fairy huffed. He grabbed all my sisters with his itchy black sand, and carried them off. They're all scared-scared-scared, Jack. But not hurt, I don't think. I'd feel it if they were.

One day he had to get an explanation as to how Baby Tooth knew what was going on with the rest of her kin. "The... others?"

Mother came back and fought Pitch, and Santa, Sandman, and Easter Bunny helped. Baby Tooth leaned forward, her eyes wide and her expression one of faint dismay. I don't think the Sandman brushes his teeth... and Santa eats cookies and doesn't brush his teeth before bed!

Do not laugh at the fairy, do not laugh at the fairy, that beak was very sharp and very painful and she had very good aim. Therefore, Jack, do not laugh at the fairy.

He smiled instead. "I think that might be a contractual obligation. Besides, the Sandman doesn't eat, does he?"

Oh. No, he drinks eggnog. Mother's seen him. Baby Tooth flew up off the staff, and whirled in a quick circle around Jack's head. So? So are we going to go now? Are we going to fight Pitch?

"Hm." Fighting Pitch... Jack knew, he just knew that it would end up a head-on confrontation. He wasn't strong enough for that. At his weakest, Pitch would be able to tear him limb from limb. Thanks to a certain war, and a certain paranoid government, Pitch Black's powers were- well, they weren't exactly at an ebb, though he wasn't as strong as rumors painted him during the World Wars.

"Why don't the Guardians fight him?" The Big Four, the administrators of justice... Much better than the old method of 'might makes right', though the Guardians of Childhood were plenty strong as it was. Surely they would look to beat Pitch's head down below his collarbones, yes?

I don't know, Baby Tooth admitted. Mother tells us about teeth. Not about why she and her friends do things.

Jack hummed again, and nudged Baby Tooth towards his shoulder. "Then I should speak with them first. If they have a plan, I would hate to ruin it."

Oh, that makes sense. Baby Tooth flew several feet to the side, and then turned in a slow circle. They're coming here! Oh, Jack, you have to give me the coin and the floss, I need to get Jamie's tooth before Mother does!

"Alright." Jack produced the goods, and then mentally called the Wind to carry him after the tooth fairy. "Do you need any help?"

I'll be good. I'll tell mother to get everyone together and we can meet- where should we meet?

"I'll find you." If he absolutely had to, he could use his empathic sense. It would hurt, but he could.

It had been the best day of his _life_ when he learnt how to block out everyone's emotions. Empaths, from the information he'd been able to gather, weren't supposed to be like him. Pleasant emotions were supposed to make them feel good, not as though rusty, barbed wire was wrapped tightly around their arms and chest. It had been a bad few years, especially since he'd gained the ability, or realized the ability, during World War One and its aftermath. So much tragedy, so much horror...

He suspected it had been that which broke his empathy, not the Unseleighe torture. Well, probably.

The Wind carried him up to some power lines. He amused himself for a minute by frosting them over, and then looked up at the moon.

"Do I disappoint you?" he asked, throat suddenly tight. "I know I'm not what you wanted."

Who would want him? Broken little Jack Frost, as fractured as his ice fractals...

Gray flashed at the corner of his eyes. Jack's gut immediately tightened, and he spun and chased after it.

He was asking to get hurt. The Easter Bunny would turn him into a smear on the pavement. He'd do something stupid again.

He flew faster.

The gray blur vanished into an alley. Jack darted down and landed hard, ankles stinging from the impact. He turned around slowly, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Or anyone.

His shoulders slumped. Too much to hope for. Besides, the Easter Bunny would likely-

"Hello mate."

Jack iced first and looked second.

"Oh," he said. "Woops."

The Easter Bunny leveled a very unimpressed look, iced shoulders to mid-torso to the alley wall. "Ya know," he said. "You're a jumpy little bugger, aren't you?"

Jack shook hard, once. The Easter Bunny was _speaking_ to him. Civilly. "What are you doing here?"

The rabbit looked down at the ice holding him to the wall. Why didn't he break it? Jack hadn't used anything special; it was just ordinary ice. It even looked a bit damp where it had started to melt on the edges.

"Long story," the rabbit said, and looked up. "Heh. There a reason you skipped immediately to restraints?"

He didn't understand. He did not understand at all. The- the rabbit, the Easter Bunny, he was supposed to hate Jack. For what he'd did.

"Aren't you... upset about the blizzard of '68?" Jack asked. His hands weren't shaking. Absolutely not. He was holding onto his staff, they couldn't shake.

The rabbit glared. There, that was expected, the proper reaction. Any minute now he'd shatter the ice with a shrug and tear Jack limb from limb. "Yes," the rabbit said, the muscles in his jaw twitching. Jack watched, fascinated at the play of light and shadow on the fur.

"So... why are you still stuck to the wall?"

The Easter Bunny half closed his eyes, and the look he gave Jack was... odd. Unreadable. "You'd run if I weren't, wouldn't you?"

Yes. "No." Jack took several steps closer, just to prove it. Faintly, just under the stench of old garbage, he could smell clean fur and something flowery. "But you're angry. Aren't you."

The rabbit took a deep breath, and inclined his head. "What I am is a bit complicated at the mo."

Well... Jack dropped his shields, and fell to his knees. Ow. Very ow. There were... there were a lot of _people_ in Burgess. They all- he felt them all. Anger and love and rage and laughter and hate and indifference and he was going mad, he could feel himself start to break all over again and no not again he couldn't do that again he couldn't piece himself together again no nononono _no_ -

Bright. Shiny. Warm. He was so cold, always so cold. Jack crawled towards the warmth, whimpering under his breath; eyes clenched shut against the pain. Worst. Migraine. _Ever_.

"Frost? Jack? You alright there?"

"Hurts," he whispered. "So much. Drowning." He hated drowning. He'd died by drowning. He sobbed, and rubbed his cheek against a furry knee, relaxing a little. Physical contact helped focus. And he was touching someone so warm, so bright. He turned his head, and nuzzled against the fur.

Desire, a hot flash, shot directly to his groin. Jack groaned at the feeling. He hadn't ever- but he did now. Oh, yes. He shifted on his knees, and levered himself up, one hand on the gritty brick wall, the other cupping the Easter Bunny's hip. What- what was he supposed to call the rabbit?

"B-Bunny?"

"Jack?" Muscles twitched under his hand. "Ah, Jack, you- you might want to stop. You, you're not acting- If you keep going-"

"It's okay," Jack whispered. He nipped at a muscled thigh. "This is good. I like this. I can feel you." So warm. Reluctant, just a little bit, but not angry, _very_ intent on Jack, a tight curl of heat low in his stomach.

Jack reminded himself that _he_ wasn't feeling those things, _Bunny_ was. He was only getting the palest reflections.

If these were only the _reflections_...

He groaned, and looked up at the rabbit. Oh, wow, he'd managed to forget how very... impressively built Bunny was. That was... Well, all those porn stars, so proud of their endowments, would have hung their heads and walked off in shame. You know. If they could _see_ Bunny, which they couldn't. Especially not when he was aroused.

 _Jack_ could. It was a good view.

Bunny was still iced to the wall, but it had never been clearer that it was by choice. His hands were pressed against the rough brick, blunt claws gouging chips out, muscles in his forearms visible even under the fur. His eyes were very large, pupils blown wide until the green was a thin ring around them. His whiskers twitched madly, even while the rest of him was almost terrifyingly still.

"I could stop," he whispered.

He felt Bunny's denial, hot and sour, right before the rabbit spoke. "You stop, I'll hurt you."

"Deal." Jack turned his head and licked. He whimpered, Bunny's pleasure and his own reaction rolling through his chest and stomach. He held Bunny's hips, a gentle reminder since, honestly, Jack couldn't have held him down without cheating. A lot of cheating.

Maybe duct tape.

He pressed his tongue to the tip of Bunny's penis, and then began sucking on the end. He'd never done this before. Never watched it done. He kept his eyes open and on Bunny's face, concentrating on the rabbit's physical reactions and his empathy to figure out what was good.

Swallowing around the mouthful was good. Scraping his teeth very lightly over the slick flesh was good. Biting was bad; Jack hadn't even closed his mouth all the way before the brief surge of _panic_ sent him scuttling away.

"Sorry," he said. "Sorry. I won't- no teeth. No teeth."

Bunny breathed in, breath shaking, and nodded. "Right. No teeth."

Jack licked apologetically at the spot he'd almost bitten, and then went back to the sucking.

He felt it, just before Bunny groaned a warning. He choked a little, and swallowed hastily. Well. That didn't taste... bad. Not like he'd expected, but not horrible or anything.

Jack barely blinked when pieces of ice fell to the ground, simply hummed when the arm wrapped around his shoulders. "That was nice," he said. "Do it again?"

"What part?"

He yawned, tongue curling slightly. "Sex?"

"... Might have to take you up on that, actually."

"Yeah, okay." He leaned sideways into warmth and strength and fur, and clutched at Bunny's chest. The lagomorph was quiet. Jack savored it, the feeling of being sated and comfortable, even as he started putting his empathic shields back up.

He'd miss feeling Bunny's emotions. But listening to everyone else would quickly drive him insane.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, that had been unexpected.

Aster studied Jack Frost's face, what little he could see. Mad as a hatter, he decided. The Winter Spirit had impressed himself quite firmly on Aster's memory with their first meeting; he'd blame Sandy for the dreams, but the Sandman didn't deal with that sort of thing. His work was the imaginings of children, not the longings of an adult.

Kind of pointless to tell himself he _didn't_ want Frost to touch him again _now_.

Because he did. Like as not it was just the loneliness talking, and Frost being the first person interested in the giant alien rabbit in _that way_. Didn't change how he felt. Locking Frost away in the Warren, preferably in his burrow and especially preferably in his nest, without the cloak or clothing nonsense... It seemed like a good idea. He knew it wasn't, but it sure seemed that way.

He cleared his throat, and let go of the mad hoon's shoulders. "So. That was some hello."

Frost tilted his head, though with that hood it wasn't possible to tell where he was looking. "Hello," he said, voice utterly dry. "You weren't complaining."

The fur on the back of his neck and shoulders about stood on end. Frost had sounded completely round the bend just a minute or two ago. Now he sounded sane, somewhere between bored university professor and long term copper on the beat. People just weren't supposed to flip between broken and desperate to- to hale and hearty. They just _weren't_.

"No," Aster said. "I wasn't. Sorry."

"... What?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "You weren't all there. When you... Should've stopped you and I didn't. So, I'm sorry."

Frost opened his mouth, and then splayed his hands. "I will never understand people. Baby Tooth says Pitch Black has declared war. I was going to speak with the four of you, see if you had any plans."

...Baby Tooth? Who was that?

* * *

They caught up with the others just inside the boy Jamie's room. Jack ducked his head to hide a smile. So, this was the Big Four? He... couldn't say he wasn't impressed.

Jack! Baby Tooth flew at speed and hit him in the chest. It didn't hurt as much as it should; she had a hummingbird's lightning fast turning speed, and had slowed the critical amount to do nothing more than touch down gently. So to speak. She clung to his tunic as she chattered at him. Mother tried to take away the coin and floss, make her leave it alone!

He lifted one hand to cup the little fairy, and looked up at the three Guardians. The fourth was still at his back. When he turned to get them all in sight, Bunny was staring at Baby Tooth with an odd expression.

"You look like someone slapped you in the face with a fish," Jack observed.

"I what?" Bunny narrowed his eyes and lowered his ears. "You take that back."

Jack stuck his tongue out at him, and had the pleasure of seeing the rabbit's eyes get a little hazy. This was... complicated.

Baby Tooth poked at his chest. Did he want to talk about it?

Jack shook his head, and looked around the room. "Is there a reason we're all standing around in a young boy's bedroom?"

He saw what he was looking for on his second look over the desk; a crayon drawing of a woman in a skirt, with a lion's tail. Someone had been telling stories.

"Who... are you?" the larger man, who could only be Santa Claus, said. Huh. Santa carried swords.

This is Jack Frost, Baby Tooth said, though it was obvious from their expressions that only the Tooth Fairy understood her.

"Oh, Jack Frost? Let me look at your teeth! My girls keep telling me how white they are- oh! Oh, they are! They glisten just like newly fallen snow!"

Jack blinked at the woman, their faces only inches apart. Well, on the positive side of things, he didn't feel any urge to bite down on her fingers. On the negative side of things, her hands were _in his mouth_.

Mother! Mother, stop it! Jack doesn't like being touched! Baby Tooth scolded her mother, not quite darting towards the Tooth Fairy's face. It got the desired result, at least; the mother fairy pulled back, pale cheeks tinting in a blush.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Eh-heh."

Jack rubbed his jaw, and shrugged. "It is fine."

She perked up. "It is? Then do you think I could take another look?"

Jack stepped back, and kept one hand over his mouth.

"Oy, Tooth." Bunny. He didn't look angry, though he did seem... irked. Jack smiled behind his hand. "Stop with the fang carpenter impression. What's the hold up here?"

Santa Claus sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Прекрасный зубов, here, is upset about the trade-gift."

"A sugar-free chocolate coin and some floss," Jack put in. "I helped pick them out."

Santa Claus gave him an odd look at that. "You helped?"

"Baby Tooth." He held up the fairy in question.

The Sandman shoved over a stack of books.

They all turned to look at him- and the awake, groggy child sitting up in bed.

"Whoa," the child breathed. "Wha- is this a dream? You're... You're all! In my room!"

Jack smiled as the Guardians fumbled their way through an actual conversation, and knelt down beside the bed. Jamie's flailing arm went right through his shoulder, pain he was all but numb to cramping the muscles. He didn't mind.

He did his best to ignore the horrified and pitying looks the Guardians sent his way, though. That, he wasn't numb to.

"Clever boy," he murmured, when the child started gushing over how much he adored their stories. And started going on about others; asking if Bigfoot was really _real_ , and what about kitsune, and his grandmother had told him stories about Hull-something or other, and had they ever seen anyone like _that_?

"Breathe, child," he said, and looked over at the Sandman. "Enthusiastic, isn't he?"

The Sandman shot a vaguely disgruntled look at his companions, before nodding. His sand images flashed by too quickly for Jack to understand.

"I'm sorry, that was too fast. Do you..." Jack finger-signed a quick question. _Sign language?_

The Sandman brightened, and gave four thumbs up. Two giant fists, thumbs pointing up, floated to either side of his head. Jack about bit through his lip to keep from laughing at the little man.

_Sometimes,_ the Sandman signed, _it is hard, not being heard._

"Oh, I know," Jack said. "I think the boy should sleep now, Sandman."

_Call me Sandy._ The Sandman- Sandy- finger-signed the letters of his name. So there would be no misunderstandings, Jack supposed. He smiled and nodded to the dream-weaver, and stood up.

Sandy caught the others' eyes, and then smacked his fist into his palm. "What- no violence!" Santa blurted.

"Violence?" Jamie asked.

Jack sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Suddenly, he _could_ say he wasn't impressed. Guardians of children? Really?

_This_ was the group that had terrified most of the really evil spirits into subtlety?

He reached to the side as the bedroom door opened, and stroked the dog's head without looking. The greyhound paused, no doubt confused by all the people standing around her master's bed, but animals had always liked Jack. Well, the domestic ones did. The wild ones reacted to him the way they did to humans; fight or flight.

"Abby!" Jamie grinned at the dog, all questions about violence and what was Santa and the Sandman arguing about and are they sure this wasn't a dream, it kind of felt like a dream, forgotten. "Abby, look! The Tooth Fairy, the Sandman- Santa- the Easter Bunny! In my room! Wait until the guys hear about this!"

Jack grabbed the dog by the collar and yanked. "No chasing rabbits," he said, and smirked. Why, yes, everyone _was_ giving him odd looks. Why, no, he didn't care.

Bunny eyed the greyhound, but didn't look too worried. "I'm six-foot-one, a master of too many martial arts to count, and you think I'd be worried about a dog?"

Jack shrugged. "Well, it's a greyhound. Do you know what greyhounds _do_ to rabbits?"

The dog growled, and bared its teeth. Baby Tooth flew too close, and got snapped at for her trouble. She squeaked, and darted to Jack's shoulder.

There's a lot of gingivitis- they need to give it proper chew toys, Baby Tooth said.

Jack sighed, and shifted his hold on collar and staff both. Holding something that required two hands, with only one? Annoying. His staff knocked over Jamie's alarm clock, and he half-turned to look at it. Just in time for it to go off.

The dog barked, and yanked out of his grip. He clutched at the collar, and his claws tore right through the woven nylon. He held up the collar, and sighed. Of. Course.

Bunny yelped, and started jumping around the room to avoid the greyhound. Jack caught Baby Tooth in one hand, ducked a hastily flying rabbit, and looked at Sandy.

"Help?"

Sandy formed a ball of dream sand, and threw it at the dog. It missed, and started bouncing around the room.

On the bright side, Jamie fell asleep, and the dog was eventually hit.

So was everyone else.

Jack scooped Baby Tooth up off the floor, and tucked her away in a belt pouch. He surveyed the room, and pinched the bridge of his nose again. "Sandy?"

The Sandman raised his eyebrows.

"You might want to work on your aim."

He looked at the three sleeping Guardians, who had- well, look at that. Images in golden sand were whirling about their heads, just as with children Sandy's work had touched. "Is that carrot dancing?" he asked.

Sandy nodded, and clapped his hands.

Jack reached into another pouch on his belt, this one the largest, and pulled out a battered, old Polaroid camera. "If opportunity knocks," he said, and took several pictures.

Sandy kicked his legs and accepted every last one of the Polaroids. Jack stepped behind him to watch the slowly clearing images; he and cameras had a very _special_ relationship, and if one of the ten pictures came out, it'd be about par for the course.

They were lucky. Three of the pictures were something other than a mess of blurred color, and you could even tell the subject matter. Tooth, curled up on the floor around the dog, Bunny using North's calf as a pillow, North himself sprawled face down over the foot of Jamie's bed, while the child curled up at the head of the bed.

Blurred golden images whirled in a circle over everyone's heads. It wasn't possible to make out what they were in the photographs, but that was alright. It was almost funnier, really, not being able to tell what they dreamed about.

Jack took the good photographs back from Sandy, rolled them carefully, and tucked them in the same pouch as Baby Tooth. She was too small and light to damage them. The seven ruined ones were tossed in Jamie's trash can.

Sandy tugged on his cloak, and he turned around. The Sandman pointed out the window, just in time for Jack to see something dark and nasty rush past the window. He looked back at the others, shrugged, and moved to the window.

"Who do you suppose is responsible for that?" he asked.

Sandy formed an image, a portrait, of a man with a stupid haircut and giant nose. Jack growled, and clenched his fists. Carefully. His claws would tear up his own palms as easily as other people's flesh.

"Pitch Black. That's right, he declared war, didn't he?" And the others were asleep, likely to stay that way for a while. Jack looked back out the window. "I'll help, Sandy. At the very least we need to move him away from Burgess. There's too many people."

Sandy nodded, and opened the window. He gestured Jack through, which only made sense. The Sandman was many things- friendly, an artist with his sand, short- but a fighter he wasn't. Jack would have to keep as many of the shadow-things away from him as possible.

Jack jumped out the window, and the Wind caught him. She held him more or less in place, turning slowly as Sandy flew out to join him. The Sandman closed the window behind him, and then they headed down the street, following the dark blur.

It was odd; the blur looked a little like Sandy did, like someone had gone mad with pointillism and using a living body as canvas; when you stood back, the little multi-hued dots all blurred together and created living color, but when you looked very closely you could see each dot- or grain of sand- that made them up. It was weird.

Just not as weird as those _Feegle_ things that had wreaked havoc in Chicago, back in 1871. The fire had accounted for most of them, while the rest had tried to throw a wake for their kin who'd gone and 'left heaven'. Jack had waited for them to all be unconscious from the drink, and then chucked the survivors in the ocean.

Sandy shot forward, and pointed at a roof up ahead. Jack nodded.

"I see it." Tall, thin- he was putting his money on Pitch Black.

Well, he would have, if he'd had any money.

They stopped several dozen feet away, and Jack nodded to himself. Yes, that was Pitch Black. Just as he remembered.

Sandy flashed images at Pitch. Apparently, the Nightmare King could understand them, because he laughed and walked closer. "Really, Sandman? It was only a _little_ dream sand... You weren't using it anyways."

Jack half-turned, the better to keep an eye on what turned out to be cadaverous black horses made out of sand. Nightmares. Night-mares. "You're a punning guy, Pitch," he said.

"What did you say?" Pitch's eyes widened, and then narrowed. "Frost. I had assumed you would be smart and stay out of things."

Jack said nothing.

"Having you about won't help."

Jack repeated himself.

"What, you think you can play with the big boys now?"

He blinked. He smiled, and flexed his claws. "Play? Sure, why not. I'll use your head as a basketball."

Pitch immediately looked back at Sandy. "Why so glum, Sandman? Don't tell me you actually want your dream sand back." He grinned, and spread his hands. "If you want it... take it."

Jack and Sandy both immediately looked around. "Oh, damn," Jack said, utterly deadpan. "We're surrounded."


	3. Chapter 3

The Nightmare King cackled. Jack shook his head, clucked his tongue, and folded his arms.

"You're doing it wrong."

That stopped Pitch mid-laugh and got him an odd look from Sandy. Jack half-turned and signed a single word to the Sandman, hopefully unseen by Pitch. He pointed his staff at said jerk, and snorted.

"You're doing it wrong, the evil laughter. It's very... canned elevator music. Or is that _muzak_?" Jack turned to one of the nightmares. "What do you think, Imbrium?"

The beast snorted, and backed up a step. It looked over at Pitch, but Jack got there first. He grabbed it by the muzzle and wrenched its head around, leaning over so it was made obvious even to the most oblivious watchers that he was staring into its eyes. " _I asked you_ ," he snarled.

"It can't answer," Pitch said. "Now let go!"

Jack giggled, and patted the nightmare on the nose. "Good pony."

"Stop that!" Pitch stepped off the roof, and then spun around. There wasn't anyone behind him. "I will see you _dead_ , Frost."

"Braaaaains." Jack floated away from the nightmare on a current of Wind, and hovered in front of Pitch. "A little late for that. Didn't you know?"

Pitch snarled, and looked around again. "Where did-"

Sandy whacked him with a hammer made out of sand.

"What, I take it you couldn't get rid of any nightmares?"

Sandy raised his eyebrows, and waved his hand in a circle. Considering the dark clouds, Jack supposed it was reasonable the Sandman hadn't been able to secure their retreat. So, fighting. Great.

Jack spun and hit a nightmare across the face with his staff. It shattered, and he moved on to the next one.

He looked around to check on Sandy, and blinked in what nearly turned into lethal surprise. If Sandy hadn't turned around at just that second and lashed out with a whip, Jack might have easily turned into a monster's dinner.

"Well," he said. "I guess I don't have to worry about you."

Sandy seemed to laugh, and then went back to whipping the nightmares into shape. So to speak. Wherever the golden sand touched, the black nightmare sand changed to match. Nightmares lost legs, haunches, heads; they were able to re-shape their bodies, but it didn't help them much. They got smaller and smaller, and Sandy's arsenal just kept growing.

Jack kept close to Sandy's back. The problem with whips was that once you'd lashed out, you had to bring them back to have another go. It left you open for a few seconds, something Pitch clearly noticed.

He started coordinating the nightmares.

Jack snarled like a rabid dog. It got the nightmares closest to him to back off, for all of two and a half seconds. Then they surged forward again.

"Sandy!" Jack smashed another nightmare, and just managed to dodge a second one that about took his head off. He got it with the backswing. "Getting kind of close here!"

Something grabbed him around the middle. Jack looked down, grunted at the golden seatbelt, and shot one nightmare with ice. It fell to the ground and shattered.

The seatbelt cut into his stomach, and Jack was yanked upwards. At a speed a fighter jet would envy.

The move had one thing going for it. It surprised nightmares and master, so they actually got out of the kill box-slash-ring of doom.

Sandy tossed Jack a short distance away, lashed two nightmares that got a little close, and then they both shot to the side, away from the town. Jack called on the Wind, and she rushed to his aid, as she ever did. The nightmares had to fight against her. Jack could have told them not to bother- Wind always won.

He looked over towards the town, and blinked. A sleigh- "Hey, they're awake!"

Sandy sighed with, Jack assumed, relief.

Backup was always appreciated.

Things got kind of chaotic after that. Jack couldn't keep track of everything, so he didn't even try. It was just smash-smash-smash the nightmares, look out for Pitch, try not to get killed or get in anyone's way.

Sandy was doing the most damage. It was... surprising. Then again, he could fly. Santa and Bunny were stuck on the sleigh, Tooth didn't have any weapons, and Jack was used to fighting his opponents one or two at a time. Not one or two hundred.

He had the Wind drop him down several feet, and the charging nightmares ran right into each other and shattered. He wasn't making a dent in the numbers. He knew what would, though.

Let the others fight the nightmares. He'd just go straight to the source, tear Pitch Black's head off. He had the claws for it.

And the crazy.

Not that he cared what the Guardians thought. Really. Bunny already thought he was nuts, he could tell, and Bunny had let him-

There was a time and a place to think about things. This was not the time and the place to think about _that_.

... Had his pants actually gotten _tight_?

Jack almost looked down to check, but he shook his head and focused. Pitch Black, Pitch Black- oh, there. He looked like he was taunting Sandy, drawing the golden man further away from the other Guardians.

That... would not be a good thing, would it? No. Time to go mess up his plans, then.

Jack called the Wind, and she tossed him up from current to current, until he was close enough to throw a snowball.

He cheated. He used his staff as a baseball bat and got Pitch in the face.

Pitch howled and spun to face him. "You again? I'll give you one last chance to get out, Frost. This doesn't involve you."

"I think it does."

"Oh? Dare I ask why?"

Jack looked to the side, where Sandy was barely holding his own against a cloud of pure dark sand. "Happy-happy birthday, from all of us to you, we wish it was our birthday, so we could party too, happy-happy birthday, when all your dreams come true!"

Pitch blinked. He opened his mouth, paused, blinked again, closed his mouth, and stared at Jack. Finally, "What?"

"You didn't tell me it was your birthday!" Jack lunged forward, and wrapped his arms around Pitch's shoulders. He was tossed off before he could tear the maniac's throat out, such a pity.

On second thought, he _really_ didn't want to taste Pitch's blood.

 "It's not my birthday!" Pitch swung a black sand lash at him. Jack dodged out of the way. "I haven't time to deal with you- get him, darling."

The nightmare snarled, and charged.

Jack had the Wind swirl him out of the way, and cracked his staff across the beast's hindquarters. It screamed, and 'slid' to a stop in midair. It turned to face him, pawed the air once, and charged again.

He got it with a blast of ice. Then he turned and rushed towards Pitch.

He almost didn't make it. The Nightmare King had Sandy surrounded with his dark cloud, had an arrow of black sand drawn (where was the bow?) and was just about to let the arrow go when Jack reached him.

Jack didn't even have time for a snowball. Distraction, distraction- oh, that'd work.

"Pitch!" he called. "The Easter Bunny tastes like chocolate!"

Pitch choked and about swallowed his tongue.

The arrow missed Sandy by a hair's width, shot through the black cloud, and hit Santa's sleigh.

Sandy dropped like a stone.

Jack swore, and dove after him. Pitch was laughing. Pitch was laughing but he'd have no reason to, Jack _would_ catch Sandy. Then he'd go back up there and introduce the Nightmare King to his own _kidneys_.

The Wind shoved him faster. He reached 'up' one arm, and managed to grab Sandy's ankle. The Wind slowed them down, a bit at a time, just in case. Jack didn't think Sandy had bones like a human, didn't think he could get a broken neck, but better safe than sorry.

It was only _after_ the Wind stopped screaming in his ears that he heard the _other_ screams.

Jack looked around, almost dropped Sandy, and then screamed for the Wind.

She sent him hurtling back down, past Santa's sleigh- he shove Sandy in that direction, then streamlined his body to go even faster- past Tooth, flying as fast as she could, not as fast as the Wind, nothing was fast as the Wind, Jack could ride her but even then he was slow, slow, too slow-

He reached out one hand, but he was too far away, he wasn't catching up.

"Bunny!"

Shadows got to him first.

If the Wind hadn't caught him, Jack might have gone headfirst into the ground. He didn't care. Bunny was gone. Pitch had him.

It was his fault.

* * *

"Jack." Tooth knelt down beside him. "It wasn't your fault."

The cloaked man hunched his shoulders even more, somehow. "It was. I'm the one that interfered with Pitch's aim."

"And if you hadn't, Sandy would be dead." Or worse. Could Pitch turn Sandy into a Fearling? Tooth fluffed out her feathers, and tried not to consider the possibility of a Pooka Fearling. Hadn't Bunny said Pookas were immune to being changed like that, it being one of the reasons Pitch had just killed them all?

She couldn't remember. It could have been wishful- _hopeful_ , damn it- thinking.

Her last fairy settled down on Jack's shoulder, and started talking. Tooth let her; Jack seemed to be listening to the mini-fairy- he called her Baby Tooth, she remembered- as he hadn't to her.

Whatever worked.

North's yeti moved around them in the usual controlled chaos. Tooth stayed out of their way, though at this time of year she knew they weren't really that busy. Whatever North claimed. Silly man, he should know better than to try to claim that sort of thing. It only led to getting shoved into the nearest broom closet and kissed senseless.

Maybe that was his plan.

She shook her head, and looked over at North's office. He and Sandy had retreated there as quickly as they could, leaving her to comfort someone completely unknown.

It didn't help that she felt a kind of déjà vu around him. Apparently, Jack Frost had worked with her girls a lot more than she'd initially assumed. That wasn't counting all the time her fairy- Baby Tooth- spent with him. Well, at least it let her feel comfortable around a strange man, especially one so difficult to read.

Not that Tooth had problems with men, it was just... apart from her friends, the males of the spirit world tended to disregard her. They forgot that she was a warrior queen still, saw only the pretty feathers and not the sword calluses on her hands. They all made the hummingbird comparison, and never stopped to think that hummingbirds fought to the death with their beaks.

She tried not to get into too many fights. Somehow, that had eventually turned into seeing hardly anyone but her fairies and North. She'd even stopped visiting Sandy and Bunny, and that... She regretted that.

Tooth turned back to Jack, once she felt from Baby Tooth that he was looking at her. "Jack. Bunny's an old warrior. He can handle Pitch."

Jack took a deep breath, and she felt him look at her. That hood was slightly disturbing, though Baby Tooth seemed to think it reassuring. "It's only," he said. "It's Saturday night."

"Yes?"

"Tomorrow's Sunday- unless it's already Sunday? After midnight?" He looked around, or at least shook his head slowly. Stupid hood. "The egg hunts are always on Monday. He always sets the eggs out Sunday night."

Egg hunts?

Baby Tooth got it before Tooth did, which  
was somewhat embarrassing. Bunny's egg hunts! The source of the children's belief in him!

She covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh no..." It was like with her and the teeth. If she didn't collect them, the children didn't believe. Her powers were tied to that, her _life_ was ultimately tied to that. She hadn't been born immortal, that was something that came with being a spirit and Guardian. If her powers failed, age would catch up. It was the same way with North. Sandy was a former Wishing Star, though, so perhaps he'd survive the loss of belief- or perhaps not. He was a dream weaver now, something completely different.

Bunny, she didn't know what would happen to him if the children stopped believing. Pooka were long lived, but _how_ long lived? Had he already gone beyond his natural lifespan? How else would loss of belief affect him? Tooth lost her gift of flight, and eventually her feathers; North felt age and old injury catch up to him. She didn't know about Sandy, either, but suspected the Sandman's appearance was a shape, and his normal form had more in common with the streamers of golden sand in the night sky than anything humanoid.

"The egg hunts," she whispered.

Jack nodded. "He can't set out the eggs if he's captured."

Tooth bowed her head, and closed her eyes. "What should we do?" she asked. It wasn't entirely rhetorical; she knew what she _wanted_ to do, but she couldn't kill every nightmare. Not alone, and probably not with help.

She thought Jack gave her an odd look. "I don't know about you, but I intend to hunt Pitch down and start ripping organs out through his nose if he doesn't give Bunny back."

How did Jack and Bunny know each other? "Jack, we don't know where Pitch's lair is."

Yes, he was definitely giving her an odd look. "Baby Tooth can find anyone."

She _could_? Tooth hadn't even realized. She shot an apologetic look at her little fairy, who shrugged in reply. No hard feelings then. That was... good. She still felt guilty.

Tooth bit her thumbnail. "We need to make sure the egg hunts still happen."

"Oh?" Jack leaned forward. "Why?"

"We get our strength from the belief the children have in us," Tooth said, and held out her hand. "Come, I'd like to show you something."

"Alright," Jack said. His claws pricked the back of her hand, kitten soft. It tickled, almost.

Tooth took him to see North's globe. "We all have one," she said. "Each light is a child that believes." There weren't as many lights as there should have been- and she just knew her own globe was more than half dark, thanks to Pitch capturing her fairies- but there was still a fair number. Enough to keep North moving like a young man, for now. "When a child stops believing, their light goes out."

"What does this have to do with Bunny?"

"If the children don't find any eggs, they'll stop believing in the Easter Bunny. He'll weaken. Pitch will use that to his advantage- he might even be waiting to use that against Bunny." Tooth shivered. She'd had one too many close encounters with the former general, and, well... She really hoped Bunny was okay.

"He seemed fine after the blizzard of '68," Jack protested. "Well, I mean."

Was that when they'd met? She really wished she'd still been visiting Bunny at the time, she had a feeling the gossip would have been _delightful_. "But there was a blizzard. No child really expects to find eggs in the snow."

"A light dusting of snow," he muttered. "That makes the colors stand out."

Oh, how sweet. "But the weather's good right now. They'll be expecting eggs. And you can't set a blizzard on the _entire world_ ," she said, before he could suggest it.

"You have no idea what I'd be willing to do," Jack said. Which was charming, really, not creepy at all- okay, a little _worrying_ , but not creepy- and if Bunny had finally gotten himself a significant other, he'd made a good choice. Even if Jack was only a friend, still a good choice.

If Jack was only a friend, Tooth might shove him and Bunny in a storage closet and lock the door. After all, it had worked for her and North- and she _did_ owe the old rabbit one.

"No," she said. "We have to make sure the egg hunts go through."

Jack looked down at their clasped hands, then up at the globe. "You get to tell Santa he's doing Easter this year."

"Call him North." She patted his shoulder, and freed her hand. "I have to go down to the kitchen."

"Oh? Why?"

"I need to get North a bribe."

* * *

Aster woke up with a spotlight pointed directly at his face. He was trapped in a too-small cage, the bars pressing against his shoulders something right awful.

"Ah, Aster. You're awake. It's good to see you again," Pitch said, and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to figure out chapter titles, or even if this story needs chapter titles. Thoughts, suggestions?
> 
> Sorry I'm not sorry about the cliffhanger.


	4. Chapter 4

They called her Brenda now, or Mrs. Bennett, or Grandmother. Good names all, worth giving up what she had been for what she now was.

She had a tidy little house in Burgess, where she had met her Thomas. Where the monster of winter had helped her meet her Thomas. There were rules, always rules, or she would have told her children all about him. The monster that wasn't a monster after all. Instead, she had rationed their intake of Disney movies and told them the old fairy tales, where the fairies were untrustworthy and beauty was a weapon.

She kept an eye out for the monster. She knew he watched her right back. His type watched everything.

She also watched out for The Others. Her kind had always kept their heads down, kept out from Their attention. Asking for trouble, intruding on what They guarded. Her people had been safer than most; they preyed on men, not little boys and girls. She had been safest, after marrying her Thomas.

The woman called Brenda looked out the window. She could still see what was really there, the streamers of golden sand. Only a few weeks ago they had been thick, and glowed bright enough to read by.

("Mrs. Bennett! Oh dear- are you alright? It's darker than the inside of a cat out here- you're not trying to read, are you?" And the pages had been clear in the golden light, but you couldn't tell one of _them_ that, could you, no. So she'd lied.)

(She was very good at lying.)

The sand was thinner now. And streaked through it, bands of darkness.

She closed the curtains. There was a fight going on, and it wasn't for the likes of her.

She hoped They won. Her grandchildren would be much, much safer if They won.

And she wouldn't have to get involved.

* * *

"Sandy!" Tooth set the fruitcake aside on one of North's many shelves, and hurried over to her friend's side. "Sandy, what happened?"

Sandy clapped one hand over his shoulder, which was- it was like _ink_. Fully half his arm had turned the same color as a puddle of crude oil. Just looking at it made her feel ill.

"Sandy was scraped by arrow," North said. He stroked the tips of his fingers across her wings. Soothing, very, especially right now. "Is spreading... slowly."

The fight had only been something like two hours ago. That was slowly? Tooth shook her head. "We have a problem," she said, and outlined what she and Jack had figured out. If they were going to find Bunny... Well, first they had to make sure he'd survive to be found. And that meant the egg hunts had to carry through.

Sandy looked down at his shoulder, and grimaced. That would be difficult, he told them with his images. He had to struggle, hard, against the corruption from Pitch's arrow. Keeping even a simple shape like this body was becoming more effort than he could afford.

Tooth mentally patted her back; she was right that Sandy's form wasn't humanoid! That wasn't important, but it was nice to be right. "Well, then... I think Jack will help." The two men each raised one eyebrow, in unison. "You practiced that!"

"Practiced what?" North asked.

"Never mind. Jack likes Bunny."

North looked wary. "Does he? I do not think that is best."

Tooth folded her arms. "Why not? Jack seems nice enough, and Bunny could always use another friend." Or more than a friend.

"You haven't heard rumors. I have." North moved over to his List, of naughty and nice children. There was a second list, one for spirits, hidden behind the oversized book. The spirit list was simply an old fashioned scroll, maybe two feet long, and had been his last, greatest spell. Every spirit known to the world was on that list, either under Naughty or Nice. If you touched the spirit's name- or alias, depending on the spirit- the other names blurred out, and were replaced by a list of deeds and actions.

North tapped on Frost, Jack, and a list- a long list- of deeds appeared. Right at the top, though... "He _killed_ the Snow Queen?"

" _Da_. Many, many times. A Knight of Summer Court went after him, he threw entire Winter Court in the Knight's way. Winter Court was greatly weakened, I established _Sinterklauss_ as seasonal authority- but it does not change Frost's actions."

Tooth shivered. The Winter Court... It was dangerous. Everyone knew that. The Snow Queen, the ruler, was completely insane. She was one of the most powerful seasonal spirits in existence, and if she'd had more courtiers, or had simply been saner, Tooth didn't think North would be able to rein in the Winter Court's nastier members. Certainly not without invoking his authority as a Guardian, which... Well, they only got that little extra boost when children were directly in danger. Otherwise, they only had as much power as their legends gave them.

And Sinterklass was a jolly old man who handed out presents to the good boys and girls.

She looked over the rest of the list. There was... a lot of killing. "These are all dangerous spirits, though," she said.

North nodded, and rolled the scroll back up. "This is why I think perhaps we can trust him in a fight. Jack Frost is dangerous, but only in certain directions. When there is no fight... Who can say?"

Well, maybe Bunny should just stay friends with Jack, then. "Baby Tooth likes him."

"Baby Tooth?"

"That fairy always running out on me? The- the only one I have left, now." She couldn't feel the rest of her girls. It was... worrying. "Apparently, she's been spending all her time with Jack Frost. He seems fond of her."

North shook his head. "Little fairy is no threat to dangerous winter spirit. Perhaps he likes the company." He grinned at her. "Little fairy's mother is wonderful company."

Tooth grinned, and fluttered up before remembering Sandy was in the room. He gave them both an unimpressed look. "Sorry," she said.

The Sandman rolled his eyes, but grinned all the same. He gestured out the window, and then at his shoulder.

"Focus all your energy on fighting corruption, my friend! We shall encourage dreams and wishes to strengthen you." North clapped Sandy on his good shoulder.

Sandy nodded, and moved over to the window. He glanced back at Tooth.

"Good luck," she said.

He opened the window. He seemed to collapse in slow motion, trickles of gold and dark sand flowing out into the night air.

When the last of Sandy's sand had left the office, North closed the window again. "Now, моя любовь, why did you bring me sugary fruitcake and no floss?"

Tooth bit her lower lip. "Well... Remember what I said about the egg hunts this year?"

North found a fork, and picked up the plate. He scooped up the first fork full, and nodded. " _Da_."

"It can't be just me and Jack. We're not Bunny. We don't know... so we need more hands."

He took another bite of fruitcake. "Of course you can have yeti. We are busy, but not that busy."

She took a deep breath. "You too."

"...What?"

* * *

Aster hunched his shoulders, which got him maybe a millimeter extra of room. "You've caught me before, Pitch," he said. "Never kept me, either. This time won't be any different."

The Nightmare King chuckled to himself, and spread his hands. "How do you know? This time, I have _guard dogs_." Several of his nightmares- which looked a bit more canine at the moment, now that he thought about it- stalked forward into sight. Then faded back into the shadows, which just figured, really.

"Let's face it. You haven't come up with a trick I can't counter."

"Haven't I?" Pitch stepped closer to the cage, and looked Aster over. "Really? You mean you didn't- oh. You didn't!"

Didn't what? Aster kept his poker face, kept his ears forward and confident, his whiskers still- but didn't what?

"You didn't make the connection. Silly rabbit." Pitch clucked his tongue. "Still, I suppose you'll overlook anything when you're that desperate for affection."

He didn't twitch. "You've lost it," he said. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You. And Jack Frost."

Aster's gut immediately tightened. "What about the bloke?"

Pitch licked his lips. "That was quite the show the two of you put on in the alley."

The bottom hadn't actually fallen out of his stomach. It just felt that way. "You were _watching_? That's sick."

"No sicker than a man and an animal." Pitch actually curled his lip. "I can't believe he was willing to do that- but it did get your trust, didn't it?"

Aster glared. It was the only response he had.

Jack- he didn't know why the bloke had done that, but he- Jack wasn't working with Pitch. End of story. Everything else could be hashed out once Aster was out of this cage, but on that, he was sure. Jack was crazy. It was kind of obvious. But he'd... He seemed to like Aster, at least if going down on a bloke was any kind of sign. Not even for the usual reasons the few other spirits that'd tried for the Easter Bunny had claimed.

No, he wasn't going to sleep with someone just so they could prove or disprove his rumored stamina. Or because they wanted to 'do it' with a rabbit. Or because they wanted to dominate a Guardian. Yes, he wanted a relationship, but he had his pride!

"Oh, Aster. You poor creature. You want to believe, so desperately, that someone would want a mouthy _animal_." Pitch looked at him with pity. Pity! "Don't you get it? You're not relationship material. Not even a madman would want you- and, coincidence, a madman's already _had_ you."

Aster grunted, one hind foot thumping the bottom of the cage.

"He didn't even have to _try_." Pitch looked him over again. "Don't even think about it, _I_ have _options_."

He choked, and pressed up against the back of the cage. "You'd give me a disease." As if he _wanted_ to... to...

Ugh.

Pitch sniffed, and turned away. "I'll have to have Frost decontaminate himself first, I suppose..."

That was such a blatant ploy. Implying Jack was involved with Pitch.

Aster looked away, eye caught by a flicker of movement. Probably just a nightmare.

It wasn't.

Jack stepped forward into the light, and pulled down the hood of his cloak. He was handsome enough, in an austere way, with short, black hair, an average face, and dark, dark eyes. He smiled at Aster.

He couldn't help but notice the bloke's fangs. They might have... glinted, a little... in the light.

Then Jack turned and pecked a quick kiss on Pitch's cheek. "Did you get me a new pet?"

Aster's ears flattened down against his neck.

* * *

Jack drew his cloak tighter around his shoulders, and stared down at the globe. The constant activity in Santa's Workshop had gotten on his nerves after a bit, and he'd retreated to the rafters. It was somewhat quieter, calmer, and he didn't have the same urges to ice every last elf and every last jangling hat-bell.

You're just not used to people, Baby Tooth said. She hovered beside his head, far enough forward that he could see her despite the hood. So? You're _really_ worried about Bunny. You never get this worried about _anyone_.

"You. Other people I care about."

Baby Tooth blinked at him. She hadn't realized he had other friends.

"You haven't seen me with Bunny then," he said, and smirked. He went back to frowning after a second. If they didn't pull off Easter, if they didn't rescue Bunny from Pitch, they'd never... His breath caught in his throat, and for some reason, his eyes stung.

Oh, Baby Tooth said. It's like that.

She flew closer, and touched one little hand to his nose. Jack, if you- Bunny's a _really great_ guy. He could use a friend and partner like you. I think he could get you to smile more, and you have a _lovely_ smile.

He caught her carefully. "You just want me for my teeth."

Guilty as charged. But Bunny isn't interested in teeth- which is really, really strange, because a good smile is a great way to tell someone's personality.

Jack raised one eyebrow, but decided not to ask. "Bunny is... special. I do like him. We've only spoken to each other twice, now."

Sometimes, Baby Tooth said, you look at someone and just know. That was how Mother was with North, for years and years. If Bunny hadn't shoved them in a closet, they'd still be looking at each other, and knowing, and not doing anything.

"Should I be wary of closets when around your mother then?"

Only if she's with North.

Jack chuckled, and started pacing back and forth on a rafter. He accidentally frosted several beams, but who would notice? Or care? "You can find him, right? Bunny?"

With my eyes closed and three mugs of mead in me!

Jack... wasn't going to touch that. Or think about how a small fairy could out-drink the Billy Goats Gruff. All of them. Combined. "Good. We'll need that, after Easter."

How were they going to get all the eggs painted in time?

"Hopefully your mother can get the yeti from North-"

Mother absolutely would, Baby Tooth assured him.

"-And then she and I, and hopefully North will help with this, will make sure the eggs get set out. It can't be any harder than gathering the teeth was. We won't even have to go into any bedrooms. Just public parks. Sandy... I have no idea if he's any good with painting or not."

Baby Tooth shook her head. Mother thinks Sandy won't be able to help. He's ill.

"Ill?"

Bad dreams. Sandy's the Guardian of Dreams and Wishes- well, they're the same thing. Dreams are just detailed wishes. Or maybe its wishes are just specific dreams. Something like that. But with all the nightmares, kids aren't wishing _or_ dreaming, so he's getting weaker.

Jack looked down at the globe. Baby Tooth somehow knew exactly where he was looking, and nodded. Exactly. Sandy has to keep from getting even weaker, and do what he can to fight Pitch on that end. Every _good_ dream a child has will weaken the nightmares.

"It was a very good day when you came into my life, Baby Tooth." Between her and the libraries, he'd managed to handle the loss of Jokul's book quite well, in all honesty. Not great, but he hadn't been floundering as badly as he could have been.

He didn't think Jokul's book would have a chapter covering sudden attraction to an intelligent, bipedal lagomorph, though. So strange. So sudden. But he did like Bunny, what little he'd seen. And touched. And tasted.

Jack sighed, and continued pacing. He needed to get control over his thoughts.

He looked over when the door to North's office eased open. "Attention!" North bellowed. "Attention, yeti!" He sighed, and looked back over his shoulder. Presumably at Tooth. "Everyone gather. We are doing the egg painting this year. I will set up portal to Bunny's Warren and then we will go."

Jack grinned, and jumped down. He wove through the pushing yeti, somehow managing to avoid accidental shoves and flying elbows, until he was next to North and Tooth.

"Are you going to help with the work?" Jack asked.

North sighed, and ran a hand over his beard. "This year, Easter is more important than Christmas." He sighed again, and looked at Tooth. "Don't tell Bunny I say that."

Tooth fluttered her eyelashes, and laughed. Jack smiled. They'd get the eggs out for the children. Then they'd rescue Bunny.

And then, maybe he'd be able to figure out why he wanted to curl up next to the rabbit, hold on, and never, ever let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was I too heavy handed with Pitch? Because he was being a jerk and not writing at all, so... Seriously, was he subtle enough here?
> 
> And c'mon, you didn't think I'd find some way to get Sandy out of the way, did you? But he's superpowered and we need struggles, so... STRUGGLE AWAY! Muwahhahahahaha!


	5. Chapter 5

The Warren was very big, very bright, and rather warm. Jack felt every muscle immediately relax, reacting to the heat that radiated up off the copper and rust colored rocks, and down from the sky. Winter might have been his season and cold his strength, but the human body reacted in specific ways to the cold. One way was for every muscle to tense, for the body to automatically hunch over to try to conserve heat.

There were so many plants! Everything was green, spotted with bright colors that dazzled the eyes. Scents, too; growing things, mulch, freshly turned earth, sweet nectar. And the grass beneath his feet! It was as smooth and plush as a good carpet, and the blades tickled a little. It was... And the trees! They were giants of their kind! He stood next to one that seemed to hold up the cavern roof.

There were also eggs, everywhere. They walked. It was... different.

"Interesting," he said, and picked one up with the tips of his claws. It had taken a lot of practice to learn how to do that without shattering the egg. Thankfully, the quails that had laid the eggs hadn't objected to Jack wrecking their hard work. He'd only visited nests where the mothers had been killed.

The little legs kicked madly, so he put it back down. The egg seemed to huff at him, kicked his toe, and then ran off.

"It is so chaotic," North grumbled. Jack raised his eyebrows. Personally, he found the Warren much more relaxed than the Workshop.

"What should we do?" he asked. He knew about the end product. He'd watched over more than one egg hunt, when nasty things were attracted to happy children. He rather suspected Bunny watched over the hunts as well, for much the same reason. He couldn't imagine any of the Guardians were ignorant of the nastier spirits.

Tooth turned and looked at North. "That's why you're here," she said. "How does Bunny get his eggs ready for Easter?"

North grumbled something in Russian, and Tooth hit his arm. "Stop complaining, I brought you fruitcake."

Jack turned to Baby Tooth. "What?"

Baby Tooth rolled her eyes. They're married.

"Really? I didn't know that."

They've been married a really long time.

He smirked, a little. Well, that explained a lot. "Shouldn't there be more eggs?"

"Yes, yes... Normally Bunny is further along than this."

"You _did_ set the aurora off three days before Easter," Tooth reminded him.

Jack smiled, and followed after Baby Tooth. "What's the rush?" he asked.

There was something odd over here; she could see it, couldn't he?

"I might hear something, yes." He rather thought her eyes were better than his. He'd always been a touch short sighted. Not enough to cause problems, enough that he had to squint sometimes.

He rounded a giant stone egg, which actually turned to look at him, and paused. "Can you see anything, Baby Tooth?"

No, she said, and settled on his shoulder. Maybe she'd imagined it.

"Mm. I can't hear anything, so you might be right."

At that exact moment, a tiny yellow blur jumped out with a kamikaze scream that trailed off into "boo!"

Jack yelled- _not_ shrieked like a little girl finding a frog in her sock drawer- and fell backwards. He landed hard, and gasped for breath. Then he wheezed again, because the little girl had flung herself at him and planted both knees in his stomach.

"Pretty bird!" She, surprisingly, didn't grab for Baby Tooth. She simply kneeled on Jack's stomach, tiny fingers tangled up in the edge of his cloak, and cooed.

"Jack! Baby Tooth!"

He turned his head and watched Tooth and North run up, followed by what looked like a battalion of yeti. He shifted the little girl to one side, so he could breathe.

"There's a girl in the Warren!" he said, and frowned at her. "And she can see me."

Tooth blinked. "That's... unusual?"

"Extremely." He stood back up, and smiled when the girl lost all interest in Baby Tooth, and chased around a small- flock? Herd?- of unpainted eggs.

"But how did she get here?" North gestured towards the cavern ceiling, as if the girl could have fallen from the sky.

"She looks like Sophie Bennett. We were at her house... and you feel asleep." Jack shrugged. "If you have travel magic, that would be it, I imagine."

"Ah. Snow globe." North smiled, a touch sheepishly, and then sobered. "We must get her back home."

"I don't think there's enough time," Tooth said. Her wings drooped. "We need every hand..."

"We'll return her to Burgess when we set up the egg hunts there," Jack said. "There, problem solved. In the mean time... Well, she seems to be enjoying herself. We'll just keep an eye on her while we decorate eggs."

"Eggs?" Little Sophie toddled up, and grabbed onto Jack's cloak. "Bunny! Hop hop hop! Bunny hiding?"

Cute little kid. Jack knelt down. "We're going to decorate eggs so the Easter Bunny comes out of hiding. Would you like to help?"

"Bunny!" Sophie clapped her hands, and then frowned up at Jack. "Peek-a-boo!"

She yanked his hood off. She... _yanked his hood off_.

Jack gasped, and managed to drop his staff while he tried to bring his hood back up. Sophie squealed at him, and then clapped both of her little hands on his cheeks. "Smoosh!"

Jack... froze. He could not move, literally couldn't twitch. He simply stared down at little Sophie, chest aching with the need to breathe.

"Jack? Sophie! Hello, Sophie. How are you? Do you like fairies?"

"Pretty!"

"Oh, look what I have here! See all the pretty teeth? Some of them still have blood and gum on them!"

Jack blinked and snapped out of his shock when he heard Sophie whine. "That was... impressive," he said, and raised his eyebrows. "Did you want to scare her?"

"Scare her?" Tooth drew herself up. "Of course not!"

"Ah, so you're just ignorant then."

North folded his arms. "Mind your tongue."

Jack pulled his hood back up. "For Guardians of children, you don't know much about dealing with them." He stepped over to Sophie, and held out one hand. "Eggs?"

"Eggs!"

North gestured back towards what Jack thought of as the 'main field' of the Warren. There was a river cutting across the bottom half of it and everything. A river of paint.

He didn't have a home, he didn't have a right to mentally question anyone's decorating style, but... Really?

"Children grow up fast," North said, his voice a low rumble. Like a distant storm.

"I've heard that before." And seen it. Sometimes... Sometimes it hurt. Seeing everyone else age. Or... not age, when things went wrong.

"We do not age. When the children grow up... they stop believing. They stop _seeing_ us. But we still see them."

"So that means not interacting with them at all?" Jack asked. He... He unclenched his fist, and stared at the blood tipping his claws. "Withdrawing from the world, so you don't get hurt?"

"We still help the children, still protect them. Only from a distance."

"You gave up," he corrected. "You can't just- you can't _see_ the problems if you're not _there_. Evil is subtle, North. Pitch Black is an anomaly, a drama queen. He's not happy unless someone sees him committing his crimes. The other spirits, the evil ones? They're not like that."

North clenched his jaw. Tooth answered. "You don't know what it's like to be walked through, Jack."

He stopped. Just- He unclenched his fist again. "Every day," he said. "Every. Single. Day. My own _family_ couldn't even see me. I couldn't- My own _mother_ , and my _father_ , and- I know how it is to be walked through. Damn it, I know how it is to see someone _die_ , and if I could touch them I could save them, but I can't because they _don't believe in me_."

If their eyes got any wider, they'd fall out of their heads.

"Don't tell me it hurts too much to see the children grow up and stop believing. Don't tell me it hurts to be walked through. And don't tell me you can protect people better by watching from afar. Because you're wrong."

Then he turned and stalked off after Sophie. At least his cloak ensured a dramatic exit.

* * *

The last time Nicholas had seen the preparation for Easter had been something like two hundred years ago. That said, he thought he did a fine job ensuring everything was set in motion. No doubt Bunny could have done a better job, but they had to work with what they had.

Dear Tooth ensured things remained spring themed, not Christmas focused. A good thing, really. Nicholas knew he had a tendency to... Well, obsess. It was hardly his fault! Christmas was the source of his power, of the children's belief in him. It was only natural to become an expert in those four weeks of cheer. But now was not the time. And Nicholas wasn't the only one who needed reminding; the yeti, as capable as they were, had worked on Christmas themed gifts for centuries now.

"No, not red. Blue! And green! Red is too..." he sighed. "Christmas. We want Easter."

Things were going at a good pace, though. Eggs were herded by Jack and little Sophie to the river to be colored, Tooth and her little fairy then took over urging the eggs through vines that streaked color on the shells. Then the eggs were herded away to dry in the fields.

Some eggs insisted on being hand-painted, perhaps a tenth of the overall herd. Those went to the yeti on their own. Nicholas paced back and forth, overseeing everything. It was a much bigger production than he remembered, but then the Easter Bunny had a wide belief base now. It was only to be expected.

At one point, little Sophie tripped over an elf. The elf went into the paint river. The child almost went in as well, but Jack caught her, shoved her back up the bank, and fell into the river himself.

Nicholas had chuckled when the spirit shot up into the air as if fired from a cannon. So many colors, all of them pastel! Hopefully the colors would wash out in time, but for the short term, the winter spirit was colored for spring.

It was good to know his worry as to Jack's character was wrong. He pointed out many painful things- truths, Nicholas knew, even if it hurt to admit- but he was peaceful. Gentle with the child, kind to Tooth's little fairy, polite to the yeti and the elves. Perhaps there was more to him than simply his record place on the Naughty List.

Well, no, there certainly was more to him than his record on the Naughty List, but perhaps the more was worth getting to know.

Finally, though, it was done. So many eggs! Nicholas shook his head, and urged the yeti back to Santoff Clausen to rest. The elves didn't need any urging.

"No, Phil, we can handle setting the eggs out ourselves. You are tired." They all were, by now. "Rest. Take tomorrow off, at least, for all yeti." Nicholas patted the head of his security on the shoulder. "Things will get active again, when we pull off egg hunt for Bunny."

The yeti nodded, and grumbled agreement. It didn't take any further urging to get them to go after that.

Nicholas rubbed at his eyes, and walked back across the field to where Tooth and Jack waited. Little Sophie had fallen asleep in Jack's arms, her face turned to press into his chest. There was something... terrible, about the way he stood, child in one arm and staff clutched in a white knuckled grip. Everything about him seemed curved over the child, a stance more primal than mere protection.

_This, I have. This, I hold. This, I defend._

Nicholas shuddered.

_This, I will do worse than kill for._

"Jack," he said. "We have some time before setting out eggs."

"Yeah," the winter spirit said. There was a hint of rasp to his voice. Exhaustion must have been hitting him too. It had been a long three days, with no sleep and little by way of sustenance.

Tooth looked between them, occasionally glancing at the little fairy that sat on the crook of Jack's staff. "You seem... good with children. Even though you normally can't..."

Jack turned his head, his pink-speckled jaw tensing. "I had a little sister," he said finally. "She was a little older than Sophie when I died."

Died?

"Jack?" Tooth asked.

"Has this anything to do with the Snow Queen?" Nicholas asked.

It was the wrong question. Jack glared at him; even with the hood hiding his eyes, Nicholas could feel the heat, the rage. "What do you know about _that bi_ \- the Snow Queen?"

Nicholas' heart rate picked up. "That you killed her. Many times."

It would have been better if he'd yelled. Instead, Jack lowered his voice, so as not to disturb the child. "Of _course_ I killed her. She tried to _rape me_."

Tooth looked as shocked and horrified as he felt. Jack looked over them both, and hissed. It was very- familiar, in sound. Bunny made similar noises when enraged. Nicholas resolved not to think about it.

Just how familiar were the Easter Bunny and winter spirit?

Not. Thinking. About it.

About any of it.

"She didn't," Jack said, somehow even quieter. "I killed her every time."

Every time? There had been more than one attempt?

"And then I got out. Baby Tooth helped me get out."

That explained why the little fairy and Jack were so close.

"We should get the eggs set out. Start with Burgess, get Sophie home before anyone notices she's gone."

That was a sound plan. Nicholas bowed his head, and began herding the eggs towards the tunnel. For the moment, he wasn't thinking about it. Things with Pitch had greater importance, if only because of immediate danger. But after, he would have to think about it.

That was not something he was looking forward to. Not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hold onto your hats, kids, because next chapter threatens to be a doozy.
> 
> Also, Iron Man 3 comes out tomorrow. I'm going to see it on Sunday. It (the anticipation) may or may not affect my posting schedule.


	6. Chapter 6

Bunny bit Jack's hand (not Jack, couldn't be Jack, just another of Pitch's mind games) and clawed at his wrist. It didn't help; the dark haired man grabbed him by the back of the neck and tightened his grip. Baby rabbits had scruffs, and so did baby Pooka. Adults, however, didn't.

Jack let go when Bunny was half strangled and not struggling. "You don't make a very good pet anymore." He cuddled Bunny close. "You were more interesting when you were bigger."

When Jack kept groping him, he meant. Bunny shuddered. This wasn't Jack. Couldn't be. Jack- Jack wouldn't do these things, he was sure of it. Jack had snowed Easter out once- and then never again. Oh, sometimes there'd been a dusting of snow, perfect for leaving paw prints in, where there were children whose belief was fading or where there'd been hard times and the ankle biters could use some hope. But Bunny had ears; there were years when Mother Nature and the Groundhog both called for heavy snow over that one weekend, and Jack said 'no'. And ensured any other winter spirits kept clear and quiet.

Rumors had him crazy for that- a Winter Spirit not wanting to spread snow? Going up against _Mother Nature_?

Aster knew why. The Jack that tried to make up for a single blizzard, the Jack that made his fur tingle and skin feel too tight, that was _not_ the Jack holding him right now.

This Jack made him want to get away. This Jack had touched him, groped him, bitten and clawed when Aster hadn't reacted. His Jack wouldn't do that; his Jack wouldn't need to.

This was an imposter.

At least loss of power had a silver lining. The imposter wasn't interested in groping what looked like a common cottontail. Just cuddling. Which... Aster could tolerate a lot better, even if he didn't like it.

There was a horrible scrabbling sound from one of the tunnels, and then a misshapen _thing_ walked into the cavern. It might have been a nightmare, once, but something had gone wrong. It had five limbs, one sticking out the back of its head, and five eyes. It drooled, too.

Aster blinked, and realized that he was looking at one of the last Fearlings.

Fearlings were... Well, they had been people, once. Pitch's species, very much like humans, every last one born as something that, on Earth, would be a spirit. When Pitch broke the Fearlings and Dream Pirates out of prison, he'd had nearly every last humanoid spirit he could find infected and changed. He'd killed those he couldn't change; the Pooka, the Nox, and the Aesir, among others.

But Fearlings were fragile. Laugh at them, and they cracked; what cracked could be broken. They'd relied on numbers and the fear they inspired in people. They'd also been easy to take out, once you knew what to expect. Fear of the unknown could be banished with a little information.

This one carried a fist-sized sack of... something... in its head-arm. It shuffled towards Jack, blind eyes rolling desperately.

"Oh!" Jack put Aster back in the now oversized cage, and skipped towards the Fearling. "For me? How lovely!"

The Fearling dropped the bag into Jack's hands, and started to edge away.

With a casual air that was predictably terrifying, Jack reached over and broke the Fearling's neck.

"What do you suppose it is?" Jack asked. He turned the bag over and over in his hands, and walked back to Aster's cage. "I should open it to find out, don't you think? Unless Pitch would be upset. I'd hate for that to happen."

Aster hunched down, and glared. "Open it then. Maybe he'll break _your_ neck." Not Jack. Not Jack. Couldn't be Jack.

The imposter looked sidelong at Aster. "That was mean. No nookie for you."

"Don't want any."

"Silly rabbit." Jack patted the side of the cage. "Of course you do."

Jack looked up from the bag at Pitch's entrance. As always, it was needlessly dramatic, for an audience of two. Jack gasped, and hurried over to the Nightmare King's side.

"Look!" He held up the bag, and grinned. "What is it?"

Pitch took the bag, and opened it. "Ah," he said, and poured out a handful of golden sand. "It seems Sanderson was not quite as strong as he thought. Somehow, this is even better than what I'd originally planned."

"That's the Sandman?" Jack peered at the handful of sand. "He's so small. And not moving. I thought he'd move."

"Don't touch," Pitch said. He poured the handful of sand back in the bag, and tossed it in the direction of the cages. "We'll have guests soon. Hopefully they won't mind being crowded."

Jack pressed up against Pitch's side. "How soon?"

The Nightmare King chuckled, and pressed his lips against Jack's. Aster growled. It wasn't Jack, it _wasn't_ , but he didn't like seeing that. Or hearing what else Pitch got up to with- with Jack's imposter.

"Too soon for us to play, my shadow." Pitch caressed Jack's cheek. "Why don't you play with your rabbit for a while?"

"He's all small." Jack pouted, and pulled his hood up. "He's no fun anymore. He wasn't any fun before, either, but at least there was stuff to touch."

"Shall I bring you a child to play with?"

"Oh? Oh! You're so good to me." Jack skipped in a circle around Pitch. It was nauseating. "A child will be fun. Younger is better."

Aster shuddered. A child? Down here? The others would never stand for it.

Sandy was so weak, he was in a bag. The others could have been worse off, and he'd never know.

He didn't even know what _day_ it was.

After Easter, he suspected. It'd been morning, or thereabouts, when he'd finally shrunk down to a smaller form. His instinctive response to weakness. A smaller body needed fewer resources, less magic and energy to sustain. Such a thing had saved him before, but he was starting to think it wouldn't save him now.

Thinking like that would end with him dead, though. He had to keep hope. Yes, he'd missed Easter this year, but it wouldn't finish him off. There were still children, too young to have lost their teeth yet, that'd believe. Yes, he was tiny and stuck as a quadruped, but that'd had happened before, too. He'd survived, and rallied. He'd do the same this year. And yes, he was stuck in a cage, in Pitch's lair, while the imposter of his lover fondled his ears and crooned insane nonsense at him, but he'd lived through two Fearling Wars. He'd dealt with a lot worse.

He closed his eyes, and let himself shiver and shudder. Let the fear rise and move through him and fade. He couldn't stop it, but he didn't have to let it control him.

...Since when had Jack been his _lover_? Twice in forty-five years didn't make someone your lover; there needed to be an emotional connection, a few conversations, possibly a nest involved.

Jack started rocking back and forth. "Do you think he likes me?" he asked. "I think he likes me. He touches me. That means yes, doesn't it? I just want someone to like me." He tugged on one of Aster's ears. "You like me, right?"

Aster turned his head away. This wasn't Jack... but he couldn't help but doubt himself.

"You have to like me!" Jack threw Aster into the back of the cage. It wasn't very far, and Jack hadn't been able to put much force behind it, but Aster slammed into the bars all the same. He dropped down onto the cage floor, and gasped for breath.

"I'm sorry. Don't leave me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you- Oh! Visitors!"

Aster twitched his ears as the caged mini-fairies started squeaking. They'd tried talking to him when he was first caught, but then fallen silent. Now... Oh, damn.

Nightmares carried in North, Tooth, and a little girl, all unconscious. Jack started to giggle.

* * *

He put the big man and the bird woman into a cage together, together because alone was sad and everyone else had someone to cuddle. The little birdies had each other and the rabbit had him, but what about the girl-child? Such a pretty little thing, lovely yellow hair he could just pluck-pluck-pluck one by one from her head. Would she cry? He didn't know if he wanted her to cry. Pitch would want her to cry. So he wanted her to cry too.

He picked her up, and laughed a little. So floppy. Like a doll, a little dead doll. No, not dead, the girl-child wasn't dead. That wasn't right. The rabbit, yes, the rabbit was life and hope and no hope in here, not in Pitch's domain, but life? Things were alive.

_He_... was alive. Wasn't he?

"Fix it," he told the rabbit, and dropped the girl in the cage. Stupid girl. Stupid rabbit.

When would Pitch get back? He wanted Pitch, wanted to know how good he'd done. Wanted to be petted and to please his master. Yes, that would be good. Much better than stupid visitors that didn't talk to him, and floppy dolls.

He didn't like dolls.

* * *

"Hey now, sheila." Aster nuzzled the child's hair. "C'mon, kiddo, just a bump on the noggin, wake up now." Damn it, he didn't have _hands_. How was he supposed to do anything like first aid when the girl was bigger than _he_ was? What was he supposed to do, cuddle her all better?

The girl moaned, and stirred. Thank El-Ahrairah. After a bit more work- nuzzling, mostly- she actually blinked a few times before focusing.

"Bunny?"

He nodded. Hellfire, but she couldn't be more than two or three years old. "Hey," he said. "C'mon, you little ankle biter. Sit up, there's a girl."

She did, and looked around. "Scary," she whispered. Her hair flopped down over one eye. "Bunny? Where...?"

"It's going to be alright, sheila," he said. "Don't you worry about a thing."

"No' she'ba. Soffie."

"Sophie?" he repeated. "That your name, darl'?"

She nodded, and rubbed her head. "Owies."

"We'll get you home in a jiffy," he promised. They had to. He, the others, they were all Guardians of _Children_. If they couldn't save this one...

"Fairy lock up," she said, and pointed at Tooth's mini-fairies. They all squeaked, and then fell silent as the shadows started to writhe.

Aster pressed up against little Sophie's side, and barely grunted when she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed. "I got you, darl'. Don't you worry. I've got you."

Pitch stepped out of the shadows, and grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be long, I promise. And since I'm watching Iron Man 3 tomorrow, it's a good thing the chapter's pre-written.


	7. Chapter 7

"Gran, who is he, anyways?"

"Jack Frost."

"I thought that was just a saying. Mom said."

"Your mother has never seen him. Hush, Jamie, he's waking."

He really wished he wasn't. Jack cracked one eye open, groaned at the stabbing light, and then tried to recoil from the three hovering blobs. A pillow kept him from getting very far. His claws tore into the mattress.

"Cool," Jamie Bennett breathed. "Gran, you didn't tell me he was a vampire!"

Jack gaped at him. "I don't sparkle."

"Ew." The boy wrinkled his nose. "Those aren't vampires. You've got claws and fangs though!" He bounced on the foot of the bed. Somehow, he kept from pitching headfirst onto the floor, or crushing Jack's legs beneath him.

"Ice elf. Much better than a vampire." Less dead. Jack looked from Jamie- the kid could see him?- to the next person. "Baby Tooth!"

Baby Tooth shivered her wings, then ducked down and huddled against his chin. She'd been so scared... Everyone was gone.

Jack turned to look at the one person likely to know what had happened. "Huldra."

"Frost." The woman was old, though no less beautiful. "My Thomas passed three autumns ago."

"My sorrow for your loss." He sat up, one hand cupped around Baby Tooth.

"It was a good life." The Huldra- former, now- brushed at her grandson's hair. "Shadows wrecked the egg hunts."

Bunny. His chest clenched. When Jack reached out with his crippled empathy, he got... nothing. "Did you see anyone else?"

"The Sinterklass and the fairy of teeth were taken. I've no idea why you were not."

"Because the Boogieman fears me." Something like that, anyways. "I have no worth for him."

"No worth?" the Huldra asked. "Why then, did you become a spirit?"

He... had no answer.

Jack had known, once. Hadn't he? Something, some reason, some duty. It had held him to life after he'd died, had driven him to fight evil, regardless of what happened. But what, and why?

The Huldra patted his shoulder. "What was forgotten may be remembered. You are luckier than most. You are friends with a memory guardian."

Baby Tooth poked his finger with her beak. He shifted his grip, so she perched on his hand. We don't have his teeth, she said. I don't know how to make people remember without them.

"Has he not? Then what is in his mouth, dentures?"

Baby Tooth looked at Jack. Oh. Yes, that could work. It wouldn't be as fast.

"My Thomas always said you had to be slow to be fast. He was a sniper. I'm sure he'd know."

"Make sure you get it right the first time?" Jack paraphrased.

"Something like that." The Huldra stood up, smoothed out her skirt, and then held out her hand to Jamie. "We should give them space."

"The Boogieman?" Jamie asked. He took his grandmother's hand. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I'll let you know," Jack said.

Then he and Baby Tooth were alone. He looked around the room, mostly to stall, though a small part was simply that he'd never been in a modern bedroom before.

It was very... chintz.

"Right," he said, and resolved to keep one eye on a staring cat-clock... thing. It looked like a minion of Pitch Black. "How do we do this?"

Baby Tooth flew up and hovered in front of him. Normally, if they had his baby teeth, he'd touch the box and she'd activate the memories. Since they didn't, it would be more like, well, almost a vision quest. Only not as complicated, and he wouldn't necessarily see animals. The animals were only symbols, anyways.

"I've seen vision quests. Do we have time for me to bathe and fast?"

Baby Tooth shook her head. That was stuff that helped a human's spirit wander safely. He was a spirit already. Besides, they were going in, not out.

Jack shrugged. Get into a conformable position- and for Moon's sake, Jack, take off the cloak.

"Take off the cloak?" Jack's hand went into involuntary spasm, but Baby Tooth ignored it.

After a long minute, Jack reached up and pulled down his hood. Then removed the broach holding the cloak closed and in place. The fabric slid off his shoulders to puddle around his hips and legs.

Better, Baby Tooth said. Now close your eyes, listen to my voice, and follow my instructions...

Jack opened his eyes, and watched the activity around him. Curling icicles of super-concentrated brine wrapped around his arms and shoulders. The largest icicles had already made contact with the sea floor. Crabs and starfish were frozen in place.

He knew how the underwater icicles were formed, of course. The formation of sea ice pulled the H2O from the ocean, leaving behind a heavy concentration of salt. The resulting brine needed to be _very_ cold to freeze, cold enough that the sea life that touched it froze all but instantly.

Another icicle touched the sea floor. Cold spread across the ground. Sea life died. Jack-

-curled up in agony.

So, he was hurt when the ice touched and killed. What did _that_ symbolize, he wondered. He _was_ cold. He wasn't supposed to be hurt by his own weapon.

He flexed his shoulders, but the icicles held firm. Jack frowned, and managed to reach around. He'd just claw the damn things off, then-

_Oh god oh god just KILL HIM already he couldn't take much more of this they were crouched over his body, Queen and King, licking his blood off their claws and the muscle had been flayed from his arms and legs so he couldn't move, but he HAD to move, they kept TOUCHING HIM and it HURT_

Jack gagged and wept, keened in pain when another icicle touched down, and shook. The- he- they- it-

It wasn't fair. He'd _escaped_.

"Did you?"

Jack turned his head, and blinked. "Maeve?"

The Winter Lady smiled at him. "Not in the flesh, as it were. But you are speaking with me, not a memory."

Jack strained against the icicles. The effort left him gasping and weak.

"Oh, Jack." Maeve's eyes were dark with pain and sympathy. "They did hurt you so."

"But I escaped," he said, sobbed between the words. "They can't hurt me anymore."

"But you're afraid. You're afraid they'll come after you again. You fear getting close to anyone, because friends, lovers, will be used against you. You're scared that someone else will do as the Snow Queen did."

Maeve stood up, and cupped Jack's cheeks. "You dread having anyone find out you are a Womb of Winter."

He sobbed too hard to reply, but nodded.

Maeve brushed the tears from his cheeks. "I cannot say the Snow Queen won't try to capture you again. I cannot say your friends are invulnerable. I cannot say no one will ever seek to use you again. I cannot say your status as Womb makes you less than priceless."

She ran her fingers over the braids at his temples, three skinny ones to each side, put there with her own hands. "What did your father say of courage?"

Jack blinked, and lifted his head. "That- that courage was- it's being scared, but- you do what needs to be done anyways."

"You have let your fears trap you," Maeve said. "It is a hard thing to face them, but the consequences if you do not..." She looked down at the dead sea life. "Bunnymund is the guardian of hope- and life."

Jack looked up from the sea floor and met her eyes. "Symbolism's a bit heavy handed, don't you think?"

She shrugged. "It is your mind."

"Will you stay?" Jack licked his lips. "I don't know if I can do this alone."

"I know you can." Maeve smoothed her hand over his forehead. "But I will stay."

Jack nodded, and touched the first icicle.

It felt like seconds, or maybe years, before he was through. Frozen brine crusted his shoulders and upper arms, but it was broken and fragile.

"Time and courage will do the rest," Maeve said.

Jack looked around. The icicles had melted when he'd broken them. The sea floor was covered in activity again.

"Now what?" he asked. "I'm supposed to remember..."

"Courage," Maeve said. "Now to the rest."

Ah. Right, vision quest.

The Winter Lady pointed at the ice overhead. "You must go through there. I will follow."

"Going to guide me?" Jack studied the ice pack. It didn't look very thick.

"Going to help. As I should have done before."

He looked back at her. "You helped more than you know."

He pushed through the ice. Right into a memory.

_Jokul took a deep breath, and looked out to the mouth of the cave. "You died," he said, his voice very quiet. "You did a thing, a brave thing, a necessary thing, but still, you died..._

_"The Moon. The Moon, it called to you, told you a name and then... nothing... I simply wandered across the land of my people..."_

_"I drowned," Jack said quietly. "Thin ice. I saved my sister, though."_

_"And that is why the Moon chose you..._

_"We are spirits, Jack. Elemental spirits, I am told, though I have heard the words of others calling me a seasonal spirit. Not the angels of Christianity, or demons, or the undead of my own religion. I was seen, now and again, by my people, when winter closed in upon them. But only when they believed that one other than a God could help them, only when they spoke my name and willed that I must exist, because otherwise all that was left was despair._

_"In the years since my death, I have become the wind that chills bone, the desperation that finds the squirrel's stash of nuts that sees one through another night, the laughter of thwarting winter's darkness, the ice that claims the murderer's life. This, I am. This, I was chosen for."_

_Jokul looked over at Jack. "This, you were chosen for..."_

_"...If you could see all the world, good and evil. What would you do?"_

_"I'd stop the evil."_

_"Could you? All you can do is watch. You cannot do anything." Jokul breathed deeply. "But say, you can watch. You can see, these are the people who are very good. And perhaps, perhaps you learn how to touch their souls, and then- I want to think, to believe, that I, we, were given a choice. That I only do not remember, because one cannot remember when one speaks directly with a Power. That I was given understanding of what would happen, and chose to come back, and do what I could to make things right."_

_"You think the Moon chose us to fight the evil in the world?"_

_"Cruelty, injustice, baseless fear- yes. And Jack." Jokul leaned forward, his eyes wide and serious. "Never doubt that there is evil, and those chosen for evil. Not by the Moon, I know. There are things in the shadows, that corrupt the hearts of men."_

Jack staggered, and leaned on his staff for balance. "Was I given a choice?" he asked.

The wind off the glacier played with Maeve's hair. "All things are choices. Do you mean, did you choose to come back as you are now? Only you can answer that."

He closed his eyes. "Not yet. Maeve, I'd... forgotten..." Jokul had loved him. Stood as his father, or a beloved uncle. Taught him, played with him, _cared_ for him. And for so long he'd only remembered the loss, not what he'd gained from knowing the older spirit.

"You remember now?"

Jack nodded, his throat tight. "I know where we go now," he said, and started walking.

The world spun beneath his feet. In five steps, they'd traveled from Greenland's ice fields to Chamber's Lake.

Jack's body was at the bottom of that lake. Maybe not in the real world, but here in his mind? It was. Had to be. His human self was dead, after all. He'd died, drowned, had Jackson Overland. Jack Frost was just the shadow.

"I have to go down there," he said, and looked at Maeve. "I don't know if you can follow me. Or should."

She kneeled at the edge of the shore. "I will wait."

Jack nodded, and walked out to the center of the lake. The ice cracked beneath his feet.

Then he fell in.

He panicked, instantly. Water filled his mouth, his lungs. His vision went blurry, then dark, but he could still see the ice close over, still see the Moon far overhead.

_It's alright_ , the Moon whispered. It sounded sad. _I'm here. I'm always here_.

And then Jack understood. The Moon needed a crystalline structure to speak through- like ice, or quartz. Anything else took effort, too much effort to be used except for the most important things.

He understood. That was why he let himself drown.

_Jack! Get down from there! Laughter beneath the words, beating back the strain of thin-hunger, crops-not-grown. For a moment, the youngsters forgot their troubles._

_Laughter as he pranced about with antlers on his head. This is what a deer looks like! Big and clumsy and silly!_

_"Jack. I'm scared."_

_"I know, I know..._

_"We're going to play a game!_

_"You just have to_ believe _in me."_

_Danger, but they laughed, they laughed, and despite everything, because of everything, for that one moment, they weren't afraid._

_And he saved his sister._

There was no skeleton at the bottom of his lake, no corpse, no rotten remains.

Jack shot up out of the water, like a character in a superhero movie. He hovered ten or eleven feet over Maeve's head.

"I understand what I need to know," he said. "I need to get back to my body."

Maeve smiled up at him. "Then wake, and rescue what you care about."

Jack concentrated, and opened his eyes.

Baby Tooth squeaked at him. That was fast. She'd only put him under a few minutes ago.

"A lot's happened since then," Jack said. He pulled his cloak back on, but left the hood down. Enough hiding. His staff was leaning against the wall near the bed. He picked it up, and then looked over at the small mirror.

He'd died a boy, barely fifteen, and hadn't aged since. He still hadn't; the lines of his face were the exact same. The way he carried himself, that was what made him look like a man.

The awesome hairstyle didn't hurt.

He smiled, bright and cheerful, and could honestly say the fangs didn't bother him. The claws didn't, either, any more than the color of his hair or eyes did. He'd changed, and that was all there was to it.

He was Jack Frost, Ward and Warden of Winter, Guard and Guardian. He heralded the change of seasons, from autumn to winter, and then winter to spring. He was the fun that came with snow. His weapons weren't that of cold and ice, but laughter and Joy.

"Let's have some fun, Baby Tooth."

The little fairy cheered and flew circles around his head.

* * *

"James is having a slumber party tonight," the Huldra said.

Jack paused in the doorway. "Oh?"

"The emotions of children are powerful. Fear is greater, and Joy, brighter."

He rolled his staff between his hands, and then turned to face the former woodwife and her grandson. He knelt down so he could look Jamie in the eye.

"Do you believe in the Easter Bunny? In Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman?"

"I believe in you," Jamie said. "They're _really_ real? None of my friends... and it was just a dream, wasn't it?"

"An evil creature is attacking them," Jack said, sidestepping the dream question for a moment. "The Sandman guards your friends' dreams, but lack of belief has weakened him. The same evil wrecked the egg hunts, captured all the tooth fairies but for Baby Tooth, and Santa Claus. The more you and your friends believe, the stronger everyone will get."

"Really?" Jamie breathed. "We can _help_?"

"We can guard," the Huldra said. "Can we not?"

Jack bowed his head in agreement. "Senseless fear cannot stand laughter," he said. "But your friends must know the risks before coming out to help."

"I will make sure they know," the Huldra said.

"How will we..." Jamie frowned. "It's- _saying_ you're going to laugh at fear is one thing..."

"Have you read Harry Potter? The Prisoner of Azkaban?" Jamie nodded. Jack leaned closer, and whispered, " _ridiculous_."

"You said it wrong."

"The spell won't work for _me_."

Jamie grinned. "It's like that, huh? Okay, I can do it. And my friends will too."

"Frost," the Huldra said. "My granddaughter had best be here when her mother comes seeking her."

He looked at her. And then Jack stood up. "It will not be long," he said, and stepped outside.

Baby Tooth hovered in front of him. She was ready, she said.

"Then let's go. Baby Tooth. _Find me Pitch Black_!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good thing I had this prewritten. I saw Iron Man 3 today and my brain is fried from the awesome.


	8. Chapter 8

Baby Tooth hesitated, looking between three different hallways. Jack waited behind her; he'd drawn his hood back up, as much from habit as from wanting to hide his face. This place... Pitch's lair had apparently been designed with the help of some psychotropic drugs. Even with his empathy locked down as tight as it would go, he could still feel the glass-scratch of fear and despair. He had some defense, if only thanks to the Snow Queen's... attentions. Baby Tooth needed the occasional good-feeling snowflake.

He was used to fear, and despair. He was used to pain. He was used to the desperate, grasping hope that wasn't really hope, just a refusal to back down, give in, and die.

Perhaps when this was all over, he'd thank the mad Queen. Figure out some way to put her _permanently_ out of her misery.

Baby Tooth looked at him over her shoulder. This way! He's very close now!

"When you can see him, get in my hood. I don't want him to know where you are."

I don't want him to know where I am, either. No worries there, Jack! Baby Tooth shook her head, and started down the tunnel. This place is just weird. The walls seem to move when I don't look at them.

"It's not your imagination. They are moving." Closing in behind them, urging them on further into the trap. It was unnerving. It shouldn't have been unexpected. But it worked for them; the route they took might not be the shortest, but it would get them where they wanted to go.

They just couldn't go back the same way.

Jack tapped his claws against his staff. There were always options, when dealing with traps.

He wished he'd had a chance to get the color out of his cloak. The paint Bunny used was apparently water-based, so it should wash right out. But there hadn't been time, so instead of a white and pale-gray apparition, very much like a winter ghost, he was... green. Blue. Yellow. The colors of spring.

He didn't look intimidating. He looked like a child's paint project. Or possibly one of those modern art exhibits, where painters just threw buckets of paint over things.

Jack growled under his breath, and stalked after Baby Tooth. At least the cloak billowed properly, despite the colors.

Oh, hell, his hair was _pink_.

And one hand was cyan.

That just... He'd have to do something really good to keep Pitch from laughing himself dead... though that would be one way to defeat the Nightmare King. Just... not one that sat well with his ego. Fit with the whole weapons of laughter and Joy, but still...

"A little respect, that's all," Jack muttered.

Baby Tooth looked back at him. What was that?

"I look stupid."

You look- determined. And kind of scary. Even with all the pastels. Don't worry about it, Jack. Let's just get everyone back to that nice kid and his grandmother, and please, please, you _do_ have a plan, don't you?

Jack nodded. "I do have a plan. It's flexible." And would probably end with him being stupid, and defiant, and drawing attention to himself, but what else was new? That was what he did. That was how he fought the monsters that were too big, too strong for him to deal with. He was the crazy one, after all.

Down here. Baby Tooth flew along the hallway, and then paused. I can see- oh, ew! Hurry up, Jack, that's just wrong! She ducked into his hood, and used his long braid as a perch.

Jack sped up to a jog, staff at the ready. He reached the mouth of the tunnel, and then... yeah. That was just. Disgusting.

There was a boy, that looked a little like Jack. He'd been stripped of his clothing, but still wore the cloak- which did, in fact, look like Jack's, only without the paint. His hair was short and black, but otherwise their faces were the same. The expression on his face could only be described as 'rapturous', and as he reclined on what looked like a black marble altar, he ran his hands over Pitch Black's shoulders, working the Nightmare King's robes off him.

Behind and to the side were cages; more baby fairies, North and Tooth in one cage, Bunny and little Sophie in the other. There was a bag, of pale leather, beneath the cages. Sandy appeared to have gone uncaught for now. That was something.

He looked back at the disgusting duo on the altar, and curled his lip.

Time to make an entrance. Before things got to the point where he had to throw up.

Projectile vomit was only good when you were close enough to splatter your enemy.

He started with the laugh. A low, slow chuckle, like thick molasses. He stepped forward, still chuckling, the laughter picking up its pace with each step. Finally, he stopped moving, tilted his head back, and _cackled_ , the noise echoing around the large cavern.

So he might have enjoyed watching Batman cartoons. Children's hospitals showed the best shows, and the Joker was _scary_.

Pitch would probably benefit from lessons. Well... fine. Jack would give the Nightmare King a very important lesson.

_Don't interfere with what was his_.

He stopped laughing, and looked at Pitch, smiling. Just looked, nothing more. Just stood there, not moving. He let the silence build, and strengthen, let the uneasy feelings curl around and around the Nightmare King.

The problem with a pervasive air of general disquiet? You couldn't direct it. It was as much a problem for you as anyone else.

Then Jack set his staff down. Just a quiet tck of wood on stone. Barely audible.

Pitch _flinched_ , as though shot. "Frost," he said, and backed away from the boy on the altar. He adjusted his robe so it covered- more or less- previously exposed skin. " _What_ \- I heard your neck break."

Ah, was that why he'd been left behind? "An error," Jack murmured, letting his voice get quiet. "You heard a branch snap." He looked down at the boy, who looked lost, confused. "A Fetch?"

"I'm real," the boy protested. He sat up, and stared at Jack. "Who're you?"

"My name is Jack Frost," he said, as gently as he could. The Fetch still winced.

"But... that's _my_ name."

"I'm sorry."

Pitch snarled, and started towards Jack. "Well, I'll kill you now- that will be even better than taking the shadow in front of the Guardians. Perhaps I'll have you first, and they'll have to watch."

Jack looked over at the Guardians, moving only his eyes. Well, at least they weren't just hanging there. Tooth and North were both struggling with the bars of their cage, and Bunny... Oh, _Bunny_. He was so _small_.

And little Sophie looked _terrified_.

"Pitch," he said, and looked back at the Nightmare King. "I'm going to kill you."

For a second, Pitch hesitated. "Oh?" He started walking again. "How? You're alone. You're weak. You're... tie-dyed."

Jack grinned, and gave a quick twist of will.

Frost spread from his staff, coating the floor in a thick layer of slick ice.

"I thought I'd get creative."

* * *

Well, hell. Aster rubbed his cheek against Sophie's arm, and ground his teeth in a purr. "The cavalry's arrived, darl'," he said.

"Dak! Bunny, it Dak!" She pointed at Jack, who stood in all his pastel colored glory. How the heck had he ended up looking like that anyways? Like he'd fallen in the... Oh, _hell_ no.

"Did you lot try to paint my googies while I was locked up?" he roared, or tried to. Small lungs didn't make a lot of noise. "What'd you do to my _Warren_ , you larrikin _nutjobs_?"

Tooth shot him a look. "So we should've just _given up_?"

"Jus' tell me what you did to it!"

Sophie giggled, and pressed her face to his back. "Bunny silly. Eggies! Eggies everywhere!"

The kid, too? _Really_?

He had defenses for this sort of thing! Defenses that shouldn't just let an ankle biter and some stickybeaks into _his_ Warren to muck around with _his_ googies, and _his_ holiday, and...

He had some real great friends.

Jack bellowed, and Aster whipped his head around to look.

The fight was on.

Jack was fluid, like a snowflake whipped around by wind. Wherever Pitch struck, that was where Jack _wasn't_. The staff spun and twirled in his hands, one end or the  
other licking out to smack against Pitch's ribs or catch on a limb. The cloak swirled around him, making it impossible to see just where that scrawny body was.

It was beautiful.

In comparison, Pitch was a lumbering newbie, stumbling over his own feet and flailing in the mad hope to hit something.

Jack laughed, and laughed, and apparently didn't need to breathe. Apparently didn't have bones either, since the way he bent and twisted to get around one would-be blow was... Okay. That was something that should only be done on an adult's only dance floor. With a lot of practice.

Apparently, Jack practiced.

Aster reminded himself to breathe.

The Frostbite landed on his back, twisted so all his weight was on his shoulders, and then did a spinning kick-type move that got him back on his feet and got Pitch a bruised jaw.

Jack stepped back, and then made a throwing gesture.

Spears of ice formed out of the air, and slammed down at Pitch. One caught the Nightmare King by the robe, almost got his leg, but alas.

Pitch tore free, and- well, that was definitely overcompensating for something. No one _needed_ a scythe that big. Not even Death.

He swung the scythe, but the problem with big weapons was a simple one; the more reach you had, the bigger the holes were in your defense. You could only move so fast, after all. In order to move your weapon around to block in time, you had to be faster than your opponent, which... Well, Jack was fast. That wasn't happening.

Jack actually landed on the giant scythe at one point, bare toes curling around the handle. "You know, if you've got a small dick, you could always just buy a flashy sports car."

Pitch roared, and abandoned the scythe for bare hands.

Jack got him in the face with a snowball, then stepped in close and stomped down on Pitch's instep.

Bones crunched.

Then Jack swung an elbow, and got Pitch's nose. That'd be crocked to the end of the Nightmare King's days.

Pitch took off for the tunnels. Jack iced the entire wall.

"That should give us some space," he said, and turned to look at them all.

And that was when the imposter stood up.

* * *

Jack looked at the Fetch. His shoulders slumped. The poor creature was already starting to fade. Its fingertips were crumbling away.

"I don't... understand," the Fetch said. "I just... wanted someone to... I'm real. I am!"

"Yes," Jack murmured. "As much as I, or anyone." He walked over to the Fetch, and held his hand out.

It didn't have his claws; either it had never had them, or they had crumbled away into black sand and dirt. Jack rubbed his thumb over the back of the Fetch's hand. "It's alright. I understand."

"I just wanted someone to like me," it said, and leaned over.

It was like hugging a fraternal twin. The Fetch was a bit skinnier than Jack, less muscle. Pitch must have created it. If he'd known what Jack looked like under the cloak... but he didn't. He'd gotten lucky on the face, and up close... Brothers, they could certainly pass for that.

You couldn't live as long as your Fetch did.

Jack slid one hand up along the Fetch's spine, over the neck, to the back of the head.

"It's alright," he whispered. "You're going to go home now. Be sure... Be sure to tell my parents... how much I miss them."

"I will," the Fetch breathed.

Jack squeezed his hand closed.

He knelt down, in the sand and dirt, and rested his hand on the floor. "Goodbye."

Then he stood up, and turned to the cages. He had the living to rescue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those that want to be absolutely sure- yes. Jack crushed the Fetch's skull. With one hand. Claws concentrate force into a very tiny point- believe me, if a nail was blunt, you'd have a harder time getting it into the wood.


	9. Chapter 9

Claws were nature's lock picks. At least when his hands weren't shaking. Jack paused, the better to breathe deeply and press his forehead against the bars.

"Jack?" Tooth reached through the bars and rested one hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"He could have been my brother," he said. "No. But we have to get out of here."

He went back to work. Tickle the lock mechanism- when was this thing made, the fifteen-hundreds? He'd picked harder locks in high schools- twist, lift, ignore the ache in his nail bed, twist something else, and there. Lock open. Almost like magic, just a touch more painful.

Jack moved over to the cage with Bunny and Sophie. The cages with the fairies were even easier to break; there were only simple chains looped around each door. North broke them without even trying.

"Hey Sophie," he said, and carefully didn't look at the rabbit just yet. Just... Kid first. Priorities. Besides, Bunny was tiny and even so, probably wouldn't appreciate being picked up and cuddled. Sophie would love it.

"Dak! Dak, look! Bunny!" Sophie grabbed hold of Bunny's ear, and tugged. Jack bit his lower lip to keep from smiling. Owch. Fangs.

"Yes, I see. Let me just get this door open..." Again with the lock picking and shaking hands. That was the problem with sanity. You looked back on your insane period, which was all too clear, especially the things you did, and... Hell with it. He swung the door open and caught Sophie when she launched herself at him. Baby Tooth flew out of his hood, the better to remain un-crushed. "Hi."

"Hi!" Sophie squealed, helium high and happy. Jack, very carefully, let a few layers of his empathic shield down. Oh yeah, she was happy. He put his shield back up before he collapsed to the floor and started twitching.

"Okay. Ah, Bunny...?"

The tiny little guy (Jack boggled mentally) smiled, and moved over to the edge of the cage. "Yeah, mate? Don't think I'll jump on you, but it's a ways to the floor."

Oh. Oh! Okay then. Jack carefully shifted Sophie so he could hold her in one arm, and then stared at his staff. "Ah..." Okay, if he held the staff very carefully with his thumb and forefinger without dropping Sophie, he could pick Bunny up, and then shuffle his staff around a bit so he was holding it in his other hand with three fingers. It helped that Bunny was able to dig his claws into Jack's tunic, hold up some of his own weight.

Sophie had her arms around his neck, still, but she was two. Three. Around there. Not quite up to doing chin-ups, was his point.

Jack looked over at North and Tooth, in case they were willing to take Sophie, but they were both covered in fairies. Apparently Baby Tooth was the only one still able to fly.

Apparently Tooth had a lot of mini-fairies.

"We need a way out," Jack said. "The tunnels are all iced over, but that won't stop Pitch for long."

North nodded, and reached into one coat pocket. "Had no way to use this while in cage." He held up a snow globe. "You have idea where to go?"

"A trap," Jack mouthed. "We have to return Sophie to her home, first," he said, louder. "If... Darn, I can't throw it."

"Touch globe, think of where to go, then I will throw it for you," North said, and held the globe out.

Jack brushed it with his fingertips, and thought of the Huldra's home. Of the ivy climbing over one wall, the front porch that sagged a little in the middle, the beat up old VW bug in the driveway, the large oak tree in the backyard, chintz and a woman that had given up immortality for love.

The image formed in the globe. Then North threw the snow globe over handed against the wall. The portal formed, showing the house just as Jack had imagined it.

"Hurry," Tooth urged.

They ran through. Jack shortened his steps just enough that he took up the rear, Bunny and Sophie in his arms. Bunny looked up, whiskers tickling the underside of his chin, but Jack didn't look down. There'd be questions in those green eyes, and he wasn't sure he had the answers just yet.

Sweet mother of Jesus, what had he been _thinking_? Assaulting Bunny like that, those last two times? After barely saying hello! That wasn't how you did a proper courtship- wait, _what_?

Well, yes, courtship, but two or three conversations in fifty years wasn't anywhere _near_ enough time.

He'd have to make up for that. After. After dealing with Pitch.

Get your head in the _game_ , Jack, there was going to be a fight very soon.

He jumped up onto the front porch, and kicked the side of his foot against the door. "Huldra!" he called. The Guardians jumped; Bunny dug his claws in. The scratches didn't sting so much as tickle, or at least that's what Jack told himself. "Huldra, hurry up!"

The Huldra opened the door. "I have a name now, _Monster of Winter_ ," she said. "Oh, Sophie. Dear child, come here, you're in your jammies."

"Gammy!" Sophie let go of Jack's neck, and lunged. He nearly dropped her onto the porch, and only a quick grab by the Huldra kept the child from doing a face-plant.

"Okay, okay," Jack said. "Point. Brenda. Why do people keep _calling_ me that?"

The Huldra smiled, and cuddled her granddaughter close. "You are the one that hunts the hunters. Those that have power, find it unnerving to have it taken away. As they are monsters, only another monster could do so to them."

Jack wrinkled his nose and cuddled Bunny close. "Is everything ready?"

"As can be, with so little planned." The Huldra glanced back over her shoulder. "The children have been warned."

"Children?" North rumbled.

"My plan." Jack turned around. "Loss of belief has weakened you." He glanced down at Bunny, and tightened his grip. A little. Hardly noticeable, really.

It wasn't reasonable to consider running  
away to a glacial cave in Greenland he knew and hide with the rabbit. One, the cave was probably gone, between summer melts and the slowly moving ice. Two, Bunny wouldn't appreciate the sentiment or the cold. And three, no time.

He breathed in, and focused. "Pitch has his nightmares and his shadows. We didn't even have a chance to fight him last time."

"Last time?" Bunny asked.

"Wave of darkness destroyed your eggs."

"I _knew_ you lot were in my Warren. Probably painted everything all wrong, clashing colors and stripes with polka dots..."

Jack smiled, and scratched behind Bunny's ear. Then winced. "Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to, that is, ah..."

"Mm? It's... fine." Bunny shook his head, and poked one tiny paw against Jack's chest. "Plan?"

"If Pitch attacks that way again, we'll lose," Jack said. "But the thing about the monster under the bed? It can be beaten. Laughed at." He looked at the Huldra. "Jamie's... going to help."

"And his friends," the Huldra said. "I explained the danger. They wish to strike a blow at the one who has attacked them."

North's eyes widened. "And Pitch will have crack in defense."

Tooth held up the leather bag Jack had noticed before. "Sandy!"

"Sandy's in a bag?"

"Nightmares." North shrugged. "So. You have plan to use children against Pitch?"

Jack lifted his chin. "They have as much right to fight him as we do."

"As long as he doesn't get them," Bunny said. "You don't know, but he could turn them into Fearlings. He did that before."

"Over my dead body," Jack said, as cheerfully as he could. "Once he falters, then you come in. But let me and the children move first."

North and Tooth looked at each other, and then down at Bunny. After a minute, all three nodded.

"Very well. Where shall we set up the stage?"

Jack grinned, all fangs and trickery.

The backyard was dark. There was a porch light, but it had burnt out some time ago, and the old woman that owned the home hadn't gotten around to having it fixed. There were two children, a boy and a girl, standing out under the large oak tree. The girl was shaking slightly, the cold night or nerves, it was hard to say.

"This is stupid," she said.

"I told you, I saw them. Black horses made out of sand. Whenever they went into a bedroom, a kid would wake up screaming." Jamie peered into the shadows. "We just have to catch one, then it'll take us to its leader, and we can get him."

Cupcake hunched her shoulders. "Nightmares are just a thing. C'mon, let's get inside."

" _Oh, yes. Do, go inside_." The tree branches began to sway and groan. The shadows seemed to get darker. " _See if that will help you any._ "

The two children began to back up towards the house. "W-who's there?" Cupcake called.

Something laughed.

The children reached the back steps.

"Now!" Jamie called.

His friends immediately turned on their flashlights. Pitch recoiled, hissing, hands up to shield his eyes.

The giant mound of darkness behind him was worrying. Extremely so. Jack took a deep breath. Okay, time to be an attention hog.

"Hello Burgess!" he called, and jumped onto the rooftree. "Who wards the last believers, wards the universe! But, bad news, Pitch. Because _guess who_?" He barked a laugh, and jumped down into the light. "Listen, Pitch, the looming. It's _really_ very distracting. Could you hold on a minute because _I. Am. Talking_!"

Pitch spluttered- but the looming darkness shifted back, very slightly. Jack grinned, and kept talking, because the moment he stopped was the moment Pitch would start thinking. That... would be bad.

He didn't want any of the kids to be fearlings. He didn't want to be a fearling himself.

So. Talking. As loudly and distracting as possible.

"Now, the question of the hour is, "who's warding the believers?" Answer: I am. Next question: _who's coming to take them from me_? Come on! Look at me! No plan, no back up, no weapons worth a damn! Oh, and something else- I don't have anything. To. Lose! So!"

He grinned and stalked forward three careful steps, children at his back. "If you're standing there with your silly little darkness with all your silly little nightmares and you've got any plans on taking the believers tonight, just remember who's standing in your way! Remember every day I ever stopped you, and then, _and then_... do the smart thing!"

Jack lowered his head, lowered his voice, and spread his hands. " _Let someone else try first_."

Pitch hadn't come here after the children. Not initially, Jack knew; it was just an attack of opportunity, like most bullies. He was after the Guardians, and maybe a quick snack. But Jack had just shifted his attention; onto him, onto the kids.

Please, let Jamie be ready.

The kid came in right on cue. He was trembling, fists clenched, but the expression on his face certainly wasn't fear.

"You took my sister!" he yelled.

Yeah. Anger. Useful, when you didn't want to be afraid.

Pitch hissed again, expression flicking through several emotions. Confusion, rage, utter bafflement, dark amusement, indignant... He drew himself up, and leered at Jamie, at Jack, at the other kids armed with their flashlights and bravery.

Jamie stomped forward, until he was just in front of Jack. He pointed at the Boogieman.

" _Riddikulus_!"

The snowball caught Pitch in the right eye.

He snarled, but several children laughed. Quiet chuckles, really, not quite the belly laughs Jack had hoped for.

Jamie's breath caught. " _Riddikulus_!" he shouted again.

Jack didn't have a snowball ready.

The Huldra had an old, VW Bug.

"Blue punch buggy!" she shouted. Which, technically, was true; the body of the bug was blue. Peices had just been swapped out for other colors, like the doors, hood, roof, and trunk. The Huldra picked it up and tossed it at Pitch. "No punch backs!"

Then she fell to one knee, gasping. Jack wasn't that surprised. She was a former Huldra, true, and they were terrifically strong, but she was old.

And had just thrown a car.

If Pitch hadn't ducked, he would have become one with the oak tree, and the car would have been giving him a hug. Instead, he'd ducked. And gotten a flying tire to the head.

Someone laughed. Oh, wait, that was him. The children were giggling.

That was when the nightmares attacked, and Jack's plan turned to slush.

If the Guardians hadn't been there, the children would've been taken. There was no doubt in Jack's mind. As it was- they managed to form a line, and hold it.

Bunny was too small to fight. Very frustrating.

Jack snarled, and lashed out at the nightmares with ice and staff. Not his strongest weapons, he knew now, but his most used.

Wait. What if he...?

The fun-inducing snowball got Jamie in the back of the head.

Jamie shouted, and laughed. "Jack, this is _serious_!"

"And you need ammo!" He waved his staff. Snowballs, all laced with his happy flakes, appeared in neat piles in front of the children. "Get going!"

He spun around, and smacked down a nightmare with his staff. He just knew the children were grinning at each other.

The first snowball flew wide, and got North in the back. At least, Jack assumed that was a mistake. North laughed anyways.

After that, Jack was busy making sure there were enough snowballs to go around. It was hard to fight and conjure at the same time. Which he realized when a nightmare charged him, and he couldn't move fast enough.

A once-more full-sized Bunny stepped forward and took the nightmare out with a boomerang. "Gotcher back, mate," he said, and grinned.

Jack smirked back. "When this is over, I'll have more than just your back."

Had he just _said_ that?

Bunny's eyes widened, and then he chuckled. "We'll talk."

"Which means yes." Jack summoned his ice spears, and several nightmares shattered. "Really, it means yes, I don't know why you'd want to pretend otherwise-"

"Well," Bunny murmured, leaning in close so his whiskers scritched against Jack's hood. "Might mean I'll have more than _your_ back, eh?"

Jack huffed, and leaned back for all of a second. During a fight, it was long enough to be eternity.

He spun, and blinked at the first flash of golden sand. The fight had turned into a melee, half smashing nightmares, half throwing snowballs, and there was a spinning whirl of gold and light forming into a familiar, stout little figure.

Sandy grinned, and started lashing out at the nightmares.

The 'mares faltered, and bolted, chased off by snowballs and laughter. Then the Guardians turned to Pitch.

The Nightmare King looked horrified. How lovely. "This is impossible," he hissed, gaze darting from Guardian, child, Guardian, Jack (who wiggled his claws at him- Pitch might have flinched), Huldra, child, and back. "Never mind Sanderson's return," he muttered, likely to himself. Then he lunged for the nearest child.

"Jamie!" Jack nearly tripped over his own two feet.

Jamie stood his ground. He blinked when Pitch went right through him.

"I'm not afraid of you," the boy said. "You can't hurt us anymore."

Pitch gasped, and scrambled away from Jamie crab-wise. "You- you _can't_ , that's not- I _am fear_!"

Jack looked away. Bunny's hand came down on his shoulder, and squeezed.

"You're the fear of sounds in the night and imaginary monsters under the bed," the Huldra said. "Be gone with you, Boogieman."

Sandy stepped towards Pitch, his sands coiling around his hands.

"You are beaten," North rumbled.

Pitch stood up. "You cannot defeat fear."

"But we can show the children how," Tooth said. She hovered at North's shoulder. " _They_ can defeat you."

"Which we have," Cupcake said. "Give up!" She hefted a snowball in one hand.

The twins turned their flashlights on Pitch. Pippa followed Cupcake's lead and got a snowball in each hand.

"Nightmares pass!" Monty shouted.

Pitch hissed at them- and then ran.

Jamie's snowball got him mid-back. "And _stay away from my sister you jerk_!"

North chuckled, and then looked at the other spirits. "We must follow him, make sure he has retreated."

The Huldra nodded. "Children will dream properly, for the moment. But you had best ensure it remains so. Everyone, inside. We will finish this night with cocoa- and teeth brushing, yes, you need not say it- and then sleep."

The Huldra herded the children, suddenly yawning and ready to go in, and exchanged nods with the spirits. "Good hunting," she murmured.

"Thanks," Jack said. "Really. You... Uh, your car?"

"Has not run since my Thomas passed." She looked at the thing, fondly. It was wrapped around the tree. "It will be most amusing to speak with the police come morning."

The Guardians blinked at her. Jack smirked. "You have fun with that," he said, and then turned towards the forest. "Pitch ran this way."

Baby Tooth chirped, and flew forward. I can find him, she reminded Jack. This way!

They chased after her into the forest. They headed uncomfortably close to Chamber's Lake, Jack's lake, but thankfully turned away. Rather, Baby Tooth headed towards a clearing several minutes run from the lakeshore.

They arrived just in time to see the nightmares chase Pitch into a hole beneath a broken old bed, and pull the hole in after them.

"Hah," North said. "That will trouble Pitch some years, yes?"

Sandy nodded, and smiled sadly. His shapes suggested... Well, Jack wasn't going to assume. But fear was necessary- fear of strangers offering candy and fear of some pretty hairbrained stunts. Perhaps one day...

Until then, he thought. He would add Pitch to his list of monsters.

"Jack," North said. "Join us? We got to my Workshop now, recover from previous few days."

When was the last time he'd slept inside? "I would appreciate that," he said. "Thank you." And perhaps he would have a chance to speak with Bunny, in private. He had a few apologies to make.

And then, if all went well, he would let the lagomorph know he intended to court him. Properly. None of this icing Bunny to things and then throwing his self control out the proverbial window.

Who knew. Courtship could even be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some characters didn't want to work with me, but others did, so here, have a chapter. Next chapter might be the last one. Not sure. We'll see.


	10. Chapter 10

Aster didn't know about anyone else, but he was absolutely knackered. The only reason he wasn't asleep standing up was because he hurt too much. If he didn't stretch out, he'd be woken up in less than an hour from the muscle cramps. That, and if he didn't eat and drink _something_ , he'd be too hungry and thirsty in the proverbial morning to function. He'd probably end up eating grass again, which was about as bad as cabbage for Pooka.

Cabbage wasn't anywhere close as bad for Pooka as chocolate, but it didn't sit right in the stomach. Three days of nausea wasn't what he wanted to cap off the past few days, thank you very much.

Jack pressed up against his side when he stumbled. Aster draped one arm across the bloke's shoulders, and hugged him even closer. At least he'd managed to figure one thing out. He'd have to find some way to keep Jack in his life, because there was potential for a real relationship there. You know, once Jack had gotten some sanity back in him.

Pooka tended to fall quick and hard, and the relationships tended to work out. Even when the couples split, it was generally amicable and everyone ended up friends _anyways_.

Humans, and human-shaped spirits, took longer. Maybe in a decade or two... Or ten...

He was old enough to be patient, he could wait.

Well, he could court Jack and wait, to be accurate.

The yeti descended on them in a hoard. One, North's head of security, caught sight of Jack and started to throw a fit.

Jack iced it to the wall.

"I'm clean, I'm not homeless and crazy, I might be multi-colored but I'm also sane," Jack said. "And I was invited. Shut up."

"Jack!" North moved forward and started prying at the ice. "What is this? Why-?"

"I tried to break in once," Jack said, and pointed at the yeti. "That guy tossed me out. Granted, I did look like a homeless crazy person, but that's not the point."

"Phil?" North looked from the yeti to Jack. "When was this? Why would you want to break in? And why will ice not break?"

Jack folded his arms. "The ice is magic. It'll melt in a bit. As for when... Something like two centuries ago?"

"Ah, Phil's grandfather," North said. He frowned at the ice. "But breaking in, why?"

"Because I lost my book." Jack looked up at Aster, then over at Tooth and Sandy. "Why are we standing in the hallway?"

North snorted, and told one of the yetis to bring his chisel and hammer. The iced yeti looked nervous. "Will only be moment, you go ahead. Informal sitting room," he told another yeti. "Soup and tea, it has been long days."

The yeti nodded, and gestured for the others to follow him. Aster stumbled a bit over nothing, but Jack propped him up. Tooth looked back, and smiled.

Yeah, maybe they looked a bit cozy.

They reached the sitting room without further incident, and Aster settled down on a handy love seat. With his size, it was more like a chair and a half, though in turn Jack- who hadn't left his side- was a scrawny little thing that fit next to Aster with a bit of room to spare. The staff threatened to become a problem, with how Jack kept twitching it, until he set it down on the floor and held onto it with his toes.

Several yeti came in, with trays, bowls, spoons, about a gallon of tea, and a vat of what smelt like potato soup. Aster's stomach growled.

Jack pressed one hand to Aster's navel, and grinned. "I'm hungry too."

" _Your_ stomach isn't making noise," Aster muttered. Not exactly resentful, just... Well, decorum was important, wasn't it? Manners and such.

"I'm used to hunger."

And that was an unhappy thought right there. Aster maybe tightened his one-armed hug a bit.

The yeti set out the trays, and then doled out tea and soup. North arrived just in time to get his own meal, though food would've been held back for him. For a bit, there were only the sounds of eating and drinking, though Tooth occasionally had to poke Sandy awake. He kept drifting off and threatening to go face down in his soup.

Aster had three bowls before he was ready to admit to being full. He shoved his empty bowl away, and settled back. The mug of tea was just the right size to hold comfortably in one hand, so he didn't have to move his arm from Jack's shoulders.

Tooth and Sandy both finished at about the same time. North, of course, just kept plowing through the food. In the old Cossack's defense, he was built like a bear and lived in one of the coldest places on earth. That sort of thing required a lot of energy.

Even North's prodigious appetite had its limits, which was about when the last of the soup ran out. The yeti cleaned up the mess, leaving them the tea, kettle hung by the fire to keep warm, and their mugs, but nothing else. Even the trays were whisked off. The door closed, and then the Guardians were left alone with each other, and Jack.

Aster wasn't the only one eyeing the winter spirit curiously. He _was_ the only one ready to snap at the looks Tooth and North were giving the bloke.

"Jack," North said. "Do you mind if we ask you questions?"

The winter spirit hummed, and curled up against Aster. He tucked one foot under him, the other remaining on his staff, and shrugged. "Your home."

Tooth and North looked at each other. Sandy investigated his tea, and then shape-asked North for eggnog.

"Да, да, что это с вами и гоголь-моголь?" North lifted his voice, and bellowed something in rapid-fire Russian, to the point where Aster couldn't make out individual words. It wasn't long before one of the yeti came back, a glass and pitcher of eggnog in hand. Certainly Aster's ears were still ringing.

"Jack," Tooth said. "That speech sounded prepared?"

The mad hoon giggled, and rested one hand on Aster's thigh. It was... distracting. "Dr. Who."

"What?" North asked.

"Not what, who. Dr. Who." Jack grinned, and tilted his head back slightly. "It's a television show some people watch. Quite good. I just swapped words, the original was much better."

"And what- why did you need a speech?" Aster asked.

"A distraction." Jack shrugged. "Pitch had a plan. The moment someone tossed a detour onto his planned route, he started to stumble. Then the kids gave him a push. I've fought his types before, though never on that... scale."

No, Pitch was a level all his own. "You've fought," Aster began. Sandy interrupted him, offering to share the eggnog. "No thanks."

Sandy looked at the others. They all shook their heads; Jack actually looked at the pitcher as if it was likely to explode. The Sandman shrugged, and poured himself another glass.

North leaned forward. "You fight other spirits. Yes. Why?"

"Because... someone has to." Jack tilted his head. "Do you know what spirits I fight? The ones that prey on humans. No one can be everywhere at once."

Sandy raised his eyebrows.

"Well, except for you," Jack amended, "but can you say you can concentrate on everywhere at once?" Sandy shook his head. "Exactly. And some places... It's less, now. Than it was. Before, it was loup-garou and Yuki-onna and Wnedigo, and I just..." He looked down at his hands, and then away. "And other things. So yes. I've fought."

Exactly the sort of thing they did as Guardians, sounded like, only without the breaks, the other duties, that got them away from the violence and pain. Aster didn't even think about it, just leaned over and chinned Jack. No wonder the guy was a bit off in the head.

He'd help. He'd figure out something Jack could do, that wasn't about violence, something that would let him heal.

The others were staring at him. Aster glared sidelong, but didn't stop rubbing his chin against the top of Jack's hood. It was in the way. It made the gesture... less than permanent.

Jack dug his claws into Aster's thigh very slightly. "Anything else you want to ask?"

"Just one," Tooth said. "What happened to the rest of the Winter Court?"

The Winter Court?

Jack chuckled, and dug his claws in again. "They're dead. The Snow Queen's probably still alive, but she came back wrong every time, and the problems just kept compounding. I doubt she'll ever darken my proverbial doorstep ever again."

"Narrative casualty being what it is," North said, "saying so all but ensures you will see her again."

"You know, I'm almost looking forward to it."

Aster shuddered. He couldn't say he liked winter spirits- well, there was _one_ exception now- and normally he'd fight any he saw, but the Snow Queen? Nothing could run faster than him, in distance or sprinting, and that was a good thing. If he ever saw _that_ creature, he'd bolt for one of his tunnels as fast as he could.

And that had been when he'd thought her _sane_. Now that he knew she very much wasn't...

"It's alright," Jack murmured. "I have a feeling she's the one in trouble now."

"Well, that's something."

North cleared his throat. Aster scowled at him. "What?"

"I have many guest rooms. It is late, we are all tired. If you wish, you can stay here to sleep, then return to Warren in the morning." North looked away, and stared at the door lintel. "One bed or two, your choices."

One bed or- Aster choked, and near about swallowed his own tongue.

"One," Jack said. "I don't think I can sleep alone at the moment."

Aster choked again.

He didn't manage to stop wheezing until the door to the guest bedroom shut behind him. It was his usual room, the one he used whenever he slept over- so it'd been used about five times that he could remember, and maybe a few others from when he'd been too drunk to think. Not in a few centuries, anyways.

"Too forward?" Jack asked. He seemed to study the bed, as if there'd be an exam later. Or- No. Not yet. For Easter's sake, rabbit, get your libido under control. Jack wasn't able to give proper consent, obviously, and one of them had to be responsible.

"Well," Aster said. "A bit of a surprise."

"Because you think I intend sex."

Well. Yes. Aster nodded.

"I would like that." Jack fiddled with his staff, tracing lines through the frost with his claws. "But not tonight. I really am tired. And I really don't think I can sleep alone."

"Not for a while," Aster said. "Jack, I- I think we could make a go of things, but you're not-"

"What, sane?" He reached up and presumably pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am sane. I just have... poor impulse control, when it comes to you." He grinned. "Not entirely my fault. You're dead sexy."

Aster ignored the complement, though he thought Jack, at least, was sincere. "Still. Fact of the matter is-"

"I'm going to court you."

"And I just lost my thought."

Jack set his staff down across the bed. "I'm going to court you. Somewhere in there I'll also prove my sanity. Because I- you- that's it. Okay? No one else. Mind you, my other chances have all been with crazy murders that wanted to do me then kill me, but that's not the point."

Well, compared to that line up Aster must look heaven sent. He looked away.

A second later, Jack rested one hand on Aster's hip, and began kneading very gently, like a cat with kindness. "Even when I was human, I didn't want anyone. But I do want you. Come to bed. We'll deal with this when we're not about to pass out, yeah?"

"Need to stretch out first." Aster reached down and caught Jack's hand. "Or I'll wake up in pain."

"Ah. Then I'll watch."

Aster shook his head. Then he went through his stretches, every muscle protesting. Jack watched, as promised, eyes just barely visible in the shadows of his hood.

And then Aster went to bed.

They'd deal with everything else in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Characters? Jack? Aster? Where was the smut? You guys practically DEMANDED your right for smut at the end of the story... And then nothing. Did you get shy? What is this?
> 
> So yeah, Shadows Wake is done. There will be a third story to complete the trilogy, Vindicated. Less action (unless someone's lying like a lying liar that lies) but more emotional drama. Jack's sane, technically, but that doesn't mean he's okay. And saying you're going to court someone is awesome, but how do you DO that anyways? (Without bringing them dead enemies as presents, that is.) And finally, North's right. Jack said it- now it's pretty much inevitable the Snow Queen is going to show up.
> 
> Isn't it?
> 
> And finally- what about Jack's Book?


End file.
